Chappaqua Cares Hosts 2nd Annual Empty Bowls Westchester Event

CHAPPAQUA, NY – Chappaqua Cares, an organization dedicated to connecting local residents with philanthropic opportunities for volunteering, fundraising and donating, announces its second annual Empty Bowls Westchester event to fight hunger in Westchester County.

The fundraiser, which includes a celebrity bowl auction with bowls signed by Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton, Hamilton’s Lin-Manuel Miranda, James Taylor, Carrie Underwood, Pinkalicious and New York Mets players, will take place Nov. 13 at the Whippoorwill Club.

The Empty Bowls movement is an international grassroots effort to raise both money and awareness. Communities create handmade bowls and invite guests to a simple meal of soup and bread. Guests are asked to keep a bowl as a reminder of all the empty bowls in the world.

Hunger is not only a problem abroad. About 200,000 — or one in five — residents in Westchester County are food insecure. More than one-third are children under the age of 18 and 22 percent are senior citizens. Since 2000, suburban poverty has increased 65 percent, Chappaqua Cares organizers said.

With its inaugural Empty Bowls Westchester fundraiser, Chappaqua Cares raised $100,000 in one evening to support local food pantries in Northern Westchester including The Mount Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry, The Community Center of Northern Westchester and the Pleasantville Interfaith Emergency Food Pantry.

The Mount Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry received a donation of $52,450, the largest it had ever received. These monies enabled the Pantry to provide food to 124 households for 51 weeks and to increase the amount of fresh produce given so that families can make 14 meals per week rather than 11.

“The Empty Bowls event hosted by Chappaqua Cares is a powerful example of the enormous difference a community of caring people can make for their neighbors in need,” said Laura Demarais, President of the Board for The Mt. Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry. “Proceeds from this event, along with the ongoing monthly support from the Chappaqua Cares community, enabled our pantry to distribute a generous array of nutritious groceries to more than half of the 35,000 people in Northern Westchester County we served this past year.”

The Mount Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry, staffed almost entirely by volunteers, provided groceries to feed more than 35,000 Northern Westchester residents last year, up more than 12.5 percent or 4,000+ people from the previous year. This is an average of 250 families (700 people) per week. The Mt. Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry expects these client numbers to grow more than 10 percent next year.

The Community Center of Northern Westchester received a $16,000 donation from Empty Bowls, which enabled them to provide five days of fresh fruit and vegetables to over 200 families each week during the cold winter months, when donations from area farms were not available.

“The generous donation from Empty Bowls affords each family the opportunity to make healthy choices, to cook nutritionally sound and flavorful meals for the family at home and to model good eating habits for their children,” said Clare Murray, Executive Director, The Community Center of Northern Westchester.

All proceeds from Empty Bowls Westchester will benefit The Mount Kisco Interfaith Food Pantry, The Community Center of Northern Westchester and the Pleasantville Interfaith Emergency Food Pantry.

Event tickets are $125 and can be purchased online here. For more information about sponsorship opportunities and donations, contact Empty Bowls Westchester at chappaquacares@gmail.com or find them on Facebook at EmptyBowlsWestchester and Twitter @chappaquacares.