Food Bank Holds Twelfth Annual ‘Empty Bowls’ Event

The Food Bank of Siouxland has announced its Twelfth Annual ‘Empty Bowls’ Dinner and Auction, to be held Friday evening, February 5th, and the Marina Inn Hotel in South Sioux City, Nebraska.

Empty Bowls, presented by Blue Bunny, is an international hunger awareness fundraiser for hunger charities. The event, which is sold out, will begin at 5:00 PM with a social and silent auction, followed by dinner at 6:00 PM.

Empty Bowls is an international effort to fight hunger. The concept is simple – local artists from beginners to the experienced create hand-crafted bowls for the event. Guests at the event receive a bowl to keep, along with enjoying a lovely meal of homemade soups, breads, and desserts.

This event will feature bowls from local school students, community members, and professional artists. A variety of soups from area restaurants and cooks will be featured. The event also features a silent auction, with a wide array of items available for bidding. Many donors make this event successful by gifting bowls, food, auction items, as well as volunteering their time. Media sponsor KTIV supported the promotion of the event to raise community awareness.

“Our Empty Bowls event has several objectives,” states Linda Scheid, Executive Director of the Food Bank of Siouxland. “We are working to increase awareness of hunger, food insecurity and related issues in Siouxland. Through education, awareness and action, concerned individuals can bring about an attitude that will not allow hunger to exist. In addition, this project advocates for arts education. Nurturing the creative process through the arts enhances the possibility of finding new solutions to old problems. The project provides a powerful service learning project for the students involved in making bowls for the event.”

The Food Bank of Siouxland is a nonprofit organization who strives to be responsive to the needs of its agencies, donors, and volunteers by efficiently soliciting and distributing food to feeding programs for the needy. The Food Bank of Siouxland distributed 1.7 million pounds of food in FY 2015 to over 100 charities in Siouxland. Nonprofits of all types utilize the Food Bank – food pantries, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and residential facilities, among others.

In addition, the Food Bank of Siouxland sponsors two important programs for serving the needy in the community. The BackPack Program: Food for Kids, assembles food sacks each week to be sent home with area elementary school children to help offer nutritional support over the weekends when they do not have the resources of the school for breakfast and lunch. The Mobile Pantry Program: Food to You, brings food pantry events to underserved areas.

The Empty Bowls event will help offset critical product shortage that will help meet the needs of the people fed each year with food from our organization. For more information, call the Food Bank at 255-9741.