Skidmore a key ingredient in Empty Bowls project
Empty bowls to be donated to Wilton Food Pantry.
(Photo by Thuy Duong Tran Thi ’18)
Skidmore College is again partnering with the Wilton Food Pantry for the fourth annual Empty Bowls dinner, scheduled Sunday, April 12, at the Saratoga Wilton Elks Loge 161, Route 9. The event will take place from 1 to 4 p.m.
In addition to chili and soup made by Skidmore’s Dining Services, the program will include music by John Kribs and the Trophy Husbands and a silent auction.
The Empty Bowls premise is simple: each person attending pays for a bowl, which is then filled with a meal of soup or chili and bread. The fee for the meal includes the bowl, which people may keep as a reminder of neighbors who deal with empty bowls each week.
In this, the fourth year, Skidmore continues to be a key element in the success of the WFP Empty Bowls project, contributing on two fronts. Dining Services provides food, experience, and wisdom in the person of Chef Ben Niese, who is a member of the WFP board and a regular volunteer. According to Dining Services Director Mark Miller, his team makes the vegetarian chili, a soup, and provides dinner rolls, all for a nominal fee. Dining Services also partners with Steve Sullivan ’78, owner of the Old Bryan Inn, who delivers product to the site each year. Said Miller, “It is a great fundraiser and we believe that no one should ever go hungry.”
For the past several years, students of Matt Wilt, associate professor of art, have put the bowls in the Empty Bowls project. This year, reports Wilt, “Ceramics students have created approximately 300 bowls for the event,” part of the service-learning aspect of his course.
During the bowl-making process, said Wilt, “We talk about the Wilton Food Pantry and how their work on this project stays close to home—feeding and benefiting people who live nearby. This fundraiser has a significant impact for the Wilton Food Pantry—a single bowl can have an important monetary impact on the local level. The project also builds awareness about people in our area who are in need of food assistance,” he added.
Empty Bowls has a solid legacy, said Wilt. “It’s great to recognize how clay artists can help with big issues.”
Tickets are available in advance for the April 12 event. They are $20 for a handcrafted bowl or $15 for a mechanically made bowl. Tickets may be purchased at the three Wilton branches of Saratoga National Bank. If bowls are still available, they will be sold at the door for $25 handcrafted and $20 mechanically made. The 2014 Empty Bowls event sold out in advance, so please consider planning ahead.
