'Empty Bowls' Reception to Benefit Soup Kitchen

On Friday, March 11,  Cafe Beethoven will be hosting a reception featuring the talented, special-needs student artists from ECLC of New Jersey's Chatham School. The youngsters have created 120 ceramic soup bowls that will be sold for $15 each to benefit the Community Soup Kitchen and Outreach Center, Inc., in Morristown. Enjoy complimentary light refreshments and meet the artists! To attend the reception, please respond to ECLC Development Director, Heather Alonge, (halonge@eclcofnj.org) or 973-635-1705 ext.17.

If you can't make the event, bowls are on sale all week, from March 7-11,  at Café Beethoven, during regular business hours.

ECLC art teacher Mary Ann Walter, who is leading the fund-raiser, said, “We hope the entire community in and around Chatham comes out to buy some hot soup and help families who are facing difficulties putting food on the table.”

The event was inspired by the Empty Bowls project, an international, grassroots movement to raise awareness about hunger and support those in need. Empty Bowls was started in 1990 by a Detroit art teacher, who organized students to make and sell bowls in support of a local food bank. Since then, Empty Bowls has become the name for similar events held around the world and raised millions of dollars for community-based organizations that combat hunger.

About ECLC

Based in Chatham, ECLC of New Jersey is a nonprofit that provides education, enrichment and employment to some 600 developmentally disabled children and adults. ECLC operates schools in Chatham and Ho-Ho-Kus, enrolling more than 300 students, ages 5-21, with severe learning and/or language disabilities, autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome or multiple disabilities. For adult clients, ECLC provides job placements and transition services through Community Personnel Services, Inc., and independent living skills habilitation in its P.R.I.D.E. day and evening programs. Learn more about ECLC at http://www.eclcofnj.org.