Members of the Cariboo Potters Guild have exceeded their goal of making 300 bowls for this Tuesday’s Empty Bowls luncheon to raise funds for the Salvation Army food bank, says potter Judy Prevost.
The Empty Bowls luncheon and silent art auction will be held on Valentine’s Day, this Tuesday, Feb. 14 at Alley Katz Bistro Restaurant at 525 Borland Street from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
For $15 participants get a hearty bowl of soup and bun in a hand-made pottery bowl which they get to keep and take home with them.
The potters have donated their time, skills and materials to make the bowls.
Members of the potters guild, the Weavers and Spinners group, and Cariboo Art Society have also donated items for a silent auction taking place during the luncheon.
Prevost says some of the auction items include various pieces of pottery, several prints and paintings and a lovely hand-woven scarf.
Last year the potters made 200 bowls for the Empty Bowls project which raised about $4,000 for the food bank.
They hope to raise even more on the event for the food bank this year.
The Empty Bowls project is a grass roots initiative that got its start in 1990-91 when Michigan art teacher John Hartom and his high school students joined a charitable drive by making ceramic bowls for a fund-raising meal of soup and bread.
Contributing guests kept the empty bowl as a reminder that somewhere someone is going hungry.
During the next year, Hartom and other participants developed the Empty Bowls project which is now active in Canada, the U.S. and about a dozen other countries.