Hunger is a chronic condition for many people around the world.
Next week Lake City Secondary students are hosting their first Empty Bowls and Talent Show to raise awareness about hunger in our own community and funds for the food bank.
“If dinner goes according to plan next Thursday, many people coming to support the Empty Bowls and Talent Show night at the Williams Lake Campus, will go home still feeling a little hungry,” says art teacher Siobhan Wright.
The event happens Thursday, Jan. 17 starting at 5:30 p.m. in the Williams Lake Campus commons.
For $10 guests get to pick and take home a handmade bowl created by the art students from both the middle and the secondary schools.
They will also get four-to-six ounces of soup and a bun to eat before the show.
“When you think about a cup of soup, and a roll, they don’t seem like much, but for some people it’s everything they have,” Wright says.
Art teachers Wright, along with Lyle Fink and Zac Pinette, began organizing this event with their students last September.
Wright says the foods classes taught by Caitlin Sabatino have also been working hard to make three different soups for guests to sample.
The students will also be volunteering to help serve the soup and wash the bowls for the event.
“Teachers and administrators are also jumping in line to volunteer to help sell tickets and clean up,” Wright says.
She says the leadership classes taught by Robin Fofonoff and Ryan Hanley have been organizing entertainment for the evening.
Singers, Chevi Woods, Sarah Wright, Mackenna Alexander and pianist Carrie Lange are a few of the young artists who will be showcased in the talent show.
Door prizes have also been generously donated for the event.
The Empty Bowls and Talent Night is part of the district’s poverty challenge that was initiated a couple of years ago by retired WLSS custodian Grant MacLeod, and a group of teachers to raise funds and food for the Salvation Army’s food bank.
Wright says each student participating in this event was introduced to the concept of the Empty Bowls project and shown how this fundraiser has helped millions of people around the world.
She says students created the bowls from clay either by throwing them on the school wheels or by rolling out clay into slabs and forming the bowls inside other bowls. Younger students have also created bowls by pinching out the clay from a round ball.
Once the bowls have dried out they are painted using under glazes and fired in the school’s electric kiln overnight.
When the bowls have cooled the students paint over them again using shiny waterproof and microwave safe glazes and they go into the kiln for a second time.
“Bowls usually take about two weeks or longer to complete from conception to final form,” Wright says. “Some students have chosen to add embellishments such as feet or handles. One bowl in particular is in the shape of an open alligator mouth complete with teeth.”
Tickets can be purchased at the School District 27 board office or at the office at the Williams Lake Campus.
Tickets will also be sold at the door on a first come, first serve basis.
“There are more than 150 bowls to choose from!” Wright says.
“All of the proceeds from the event will be donated to the Salvation Army to help boost their food supply for people in our community.”