Empty Bowls is a way to give back, participants say

Intermountain Catholic

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SALT LAKE CITY — Empty Bowls, Catholic Community Services’ annual fundraiser for the St. Vincent de Paul Dining Hall, will take place on Sept. 6. For the event, local artists donate handcrafted bowls of clay and wood that are sold to benefit the dining hall, which last year distributed 532,766 meals.

“We have so many individuals [donate],” said Maresha Bosgieter, CCS’ director of development. “We even have a couple of wood-turning associations that are participating and bringing us beautiful wood bowls. So we’ve really expanded the donor base for people donating them,” including companies such as Goldman Sachs, which pays “for their employees to go to a studio and so they donate all of those bowls.”

One of the organizations that has been involved for several years with Empty Bowls is Clay Arts Utah. Each year several studios sponsor “Bowl-A-Thons” where they provide free clay and firing services for artists to produce the bowls. Seven studios have held events this year. Each of these events can generate anywhere from 50 to 200 bowls, said Clay Arts Utah Vice President Brandi Chase.

“Pottery is, by the nature of the craft, a community-oriented art form because our manner of making requires us to share resources,” she said. “Nothing brings the potter greater joy than to see their work in use. We are always eager to put one of our pots into someone else’s hand and fill it with a beverage or a meal because only then is the work complete.”

FFKR Architects, which has been involved with Empty Bowls for more than six years, has made the event much more than a shopping experience by providing the venue as well as amenities, Bosgieter said. There will be food from Magleby’s, which donates their employees’ time, along with a live band and an open bar. This year close to 20 FFKR employees will help organize and staff the event; a couple are even flying up from the company’s Arizona office to do so, Amelia Roper, FFKR’s human resources director, said.

“We’re right there, close to St. Vinnie’s, and for us, it’s a way to make that area around us [better], to actually make a difference, and to make a difference that can be seen,” said Roper. “We want to make our zip code, our area, better and this is a way that we figured out that we could easily help and make a change.”

The event, now in its 11th year, brings in about $20,000, which goes toward the St. Vincent de Paul Dining hall’s operating costs.

WHAT: Empty Bowls fundraiser for St. Vincent de Paul Dining Hall

WHEN: Friday, Sept. 6, 6-8 p.m.

WHERE: FFKR Architects, 730 Pacific Ave. South, SLC

COST: Free. Bowls begin at $20.

Bowls not sold at the event will be available for purchase through Sept. 20 on the CCS website or at the dining hall, 437 West 200 South, SLC, Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

For information, contact Maresha Bosgieter at mbosgieter@ccsutah.org or 801-428-1230.