Grayson Tech and Pharr Elementary collaborate to feed 600 people

Grayson Technical School on the campus is stepping up to the plate to help keep a community service tradition alive at in Snellville.

According to Jennifer Fero, an assistant principal with Gwinnett County Public schools, Pharr Elementary School’s Empty Bowls Dinner project was in danger of falling away when a local grocery store said it could no longer donate food at cost for the project – that is until Chef Matt Neal, the new culinary arts teacher at Grayson Tech, offered the support of his students.

“The Empty Bowls Dinner is a community service-learning project at Pharr Elementary. Students create a ceramic bowl in art class that is later used to host a dinner where a meal of soup and bread is served in exchange for a suggested donation,” Fero said. “Donations then go to a food bank or Co-op to help fight hunger in your community. At the meal, people are asked to take a ceramic bowl that the children make as a reminder to them of people who have "empty bowls."

Fero said the children learn a very valuable lesson of using their talents to help others less fortunate than them.

“This is a nationwide project that schools all over the country participate in and at Pharr they have had huge success with it over the past several years,” said Fero, adding that not being able to get the food at cost this year, however, put the project in jeopardy. But with the participation of Grayson Tech’s culinary art students, the program is back on track. The Grayson tech students will be making soup to feed 600 people this week.

“There will be enough soup for all who walk through the door on Nov. 17, the Thursday before Thanksgiving break,” Fero said.

The teachers involved in the Empty Bowls Dinner this year are Darika Stevens, art teacher at Pharr Elementary School, and Matt Neal, chef and culinary arts instructor at Grayson Tech.