“The Facing Hunger Foodbank serves 17 counties in the Tri-State area. Many of these counties are where our students, faculty and staff come from – and are our community members and neighbors,” said Courtney Chapman of Marshall’s School of Art & Design, who coordinated this year’s event.
“Our goal is to create 1,000 bowls every year to sell for $20 each at the event,” Chapman said. “For every bowl sold, that money goes directly to the foodbank to give them buying power for 180 meals, meaning if we sell our goal, that’s 180,000 meals provided to our friends and neighbors – all through art!”
She offered a thank you to sponsors who support the event. Sponsors include the School of Art & Design, the College of Arts & Media and community partners such as Full Circle Gifts & Goods and BesTitle Agency Inc.
Volunteers who helped make bowls included art students in the “Intro to Potter’s Wheel” course and staff members at Marshall and volunteers from partnering studios, including Merging Rivers Pottery Studio in Russell, Kentucky, and Taylor Books Pottery Studio in Charleston. Other volunteers include the Marshall women’s golf and women’s soccer teams, Marshall Athletics staff members, and community members who showed up for open studio events, Chapman said.
Empty Bowls has provided crucial support to the Facing Hunger Foodbank through the years, said its CEO, Cyndi Kirkhart.
“For so many years, this incredible partnership of art from the students and community — and the collective of everyone coming together to support the food bank — brings support to the communities at the center of our work,” Kirkhart said. “To be able to co-create the event with the strong support from Courtney and Marshall’s School of Art & Design, as well as to invite the volunteers that helped make the bowls, I am confident that this year’s event will rank amongst the best in total community support.
“The sponsorships ensure that we are able to provide these bowls and the additional volunteer activities and extend the opportunities for the community to participate in a variety of ways — learning about the event and creating the art, as well as supporting the food bank and our work across 17 counties. Courtney and the students are a key to our success this year, regardless of the final outcome, as we have involved so many people from so many walks of life.”
For more information about Marshall’s School of Art & Design, visit https://www.marshall.edu/art/. For more information about the Facing Hunger Foodbank, visit https://facinghunger.org/.