edible notables
FIGHTING HUNGER
Empty Bowls make for happy hearts.
WRITTEN BY SUSAN DITZ
PHOTO COURTESY OF RICHARD A. ZEMKE
A group of Carson City-area potters took a creative approach to fighting hunger in 2013, when they joined the international Empty Bowls project and held their inaugural benefit at the annual Silver and Snowflakes tree-lighting festival in Carson City.
The first grassroots fundraiser brought in more than $1,700 for food closets and the family-dining center operated by Friends in Service Helping (which helps homeless and hungry citizens in Carson City with shelter services and food closet). For a donation, each participant picked out one of more than 600 potter-created and decorated bowls, had it filled with hot soup and bread donated by local restaurants, enjoyed the meal, then took home the bowl to be reminded of those in the community who go hungry.
Spearheading the effort were Carson City Pottery owners Robin and Rich McGregor, who helped organize bowl-making events, enlisted local school leaders, rounded up hundreds of pounds of donated clay and glazes, and connected with sponsors and volunteers. Robin, who moved to the area with her family from the East Coast in 2004, first learned of the concept in 1999 and organized the project for her New Hampshire pottery guild for several years.
“When I finally set up my studio at the children’s museum (in Carson City), I met Jim Peckham (executive director of FISH),” she recalls. “I told him I’d love to help him raise money for food programs because to be part of Empty Bowls, all the proceeds have to help feed the hungry.”
She’s quick to acknowledge the critical roles played by fellow potters Camille Howard, Debbie Anderson of Turtle Mountain Designs in Washoe Valley, and Jo and Merrill Moore of Ogres-Holm Pottery in Carson City in each phase of the project, which takes nearly a year to prepare for. The second Empty Bowls event last December brought in nearly 1,000 donated bowls and raised $7,600 — translating to more than 15,000 meals served at FISH.
“We’re going to need even more bowls this year, and I hope more potters will get involved,” Robin says.
To expand the project’s scope into the southern end of Carson Valley, several of Robin’s students organized a separate Empty Bowls fundraiser last October in Gardnerville, which is scheduled for the same month this year. It was held to commemorate World Hunger Action Month and generated more than $3,000 to support the Carson Valley Community Food Closet.
“The food closet serves our local veterans, so our members were enthusiastic about participating, and it’s been really rewarding,” says the Fleet Reserve Association’s auxiliary secretary PJ Nosek of Minden, a pottery student of Robin’s.
The auxiliary created, glazed, and donated dozens of bowls, and FRA members joined others in dishing out soup, setting and cleaning up, and all other aspects of the event at Carson Valley United Methodist Church in Gardnerville. Members are planning another fundraiser in October.
To participate in the Empty Bowls event in Carson City (on Dec. 4), visit http://www.Emptybowlscarsoncity.com. For the Empty Bowls events in the Carson Valley this summer and fall (event dates not available as of press time), contact Robin at 775-313-8628 or visit Emptybowlscarsoncity.com. There also are Empty Bowls projects in Reno-Sparks, which benefits the Community Food Pantry (http://www.Emptybowlsrenosparks.com) and in Incline Village (email Mmanngilbert@washoeschools.net).
Susan Ditz is looking forward to exploring a new level of creativity by volunteering with Empty Bowls through her work as a volunteer with the Fleet Reserve Association’s auxiliary.
