The Cariboo Potters Guild and art auction contributors raised $4,264 for the Salvation Army food bank with their Empty Bowls fundraiser Friday.
The final tally included funds raised by the silent art auction held in conjunction with the event, says potter Jude Prevost.
“We’re pretty thrilled with the turn out,” says Prevost.
People were lined up outside the legion at 11 a.m. for the luncheon that ran from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
For $15 people were given a hand-crafted bowl made by one of the potters filled with soup and bread made by local restaurants and caterers.
The potters made a total of 231 bowls for the event, and even had to take bowls off their seconds table to fill the demand.
Within the first hour of the doors opening, all of the bowls were sold but people continued to support the event buying soup for donations of $5 to $20 which they ate from bowls they wouldn’t be taking home.
Prevost says the eight restaurants and caterers who contributed soup and bread for the event were just fantastic.
Potters are already talking about having to start making bowls earlier in the year in advance of the next Empty Bowls event which the potters host every second year.