Soups That Are Good for the Soul

About three years ago, April Clark, one of the Art Teachers at , contacted us at the Holy Trinity-West Orange Food Pantry to let us know they were holding an "Empty Bowls" event.

I had never heard of it before.

Empty Bowls started a few years ago as a nationwide effort to bring attention to hunger. Artists and craftspeople came together to create pottery bowls that reflected their concern about the issue. The art students wanted to do an Empty Bowls event and they wanted to donate the money raised to our food pantry.

Not quite knowing what to expect, the four of us (my husband, my two boys and myself) attended the first Empty Bowls.

Art students had worked for months creating bowls of all shapes, sizes and colors, with different words, themes and ideas threaded through them. The common thread was, of course, hunger.

Students manned the event as volunteers at the Tarnoff cafeteria and Sodexho donated the soup, along with bread donations from Panera. For a suggested donation of $10 per person you pick your own bowl (you could use it that night or not), get some bread, soup, and water and support both the students and the food pantry.

It was a really lovely event and a wonderful learning experience for the little ones that parents brought. Plus, the soup (several kinds offered) was good, too. The two years that the high school ran Empty Bowls (no event last year), they donated $1,000 to the food pantry. The money was great, don't get me wrong. We always need to buy food and keep the pantry operating, but I loved the kids and their efforts more. And I loved the little ones as their parents started to teach them that not everyone gets to eat every day like they do.

Speaking of the little ones, next Tuesday, March 20, (weather permitting) at around 1:30 p.m., , which has been collecting non perishable food items for the month of February, will be delivering their donations to the food pantry. But this is no ordinary drop-off.

The kids form a human chain from the entrance of Washington School to the inside of Guild Hall, where the food pantry is held. Can by can, item by item, K-5 passes their donations with smiles and pride for their efforts. It is quite wonderful to see the students and teachers at Washington Elementary show us what they're really made of ... enough heart and caring to spread across a schoolyard and onto some empty food shelves. Folks are welcome to stop by and see it for themselves.

And next Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Tarnoff Cafeteria at the high school, Empty Bowls will once again be held.

It will be over by 7:30 p.m. and well worth the effort to make it. We use our bowls for cereal every day around our house! But come on time because the bowls go quickly. If you do make it, be sure to thank the kids and everyone else, for caring. Hope to see you there.