Empty Bowls Event Feeds Body and Soul

• TOM MCCALL tmccall@chespub.com Feb 28, 2024

EASTON — Talbot Empty Bowls raised around $30,000 for Talbot County food pantries on Saturday at St. Mark’s United Methodist Church by combining the community’s good will with handmade bowls and local restaurants’ soup making abilities.

There, guests, each of whom paid $30 for admission, were able to select one of about 400 painted bowls, all created by members of the community. The bowls were made in a variety of places, including Kiln Born Creations, high school art classes and The Academy Art Museum’s pottery studio.

With their selected bowls, guests were then treated to a variety of soup options, all provided by local restaurants.

Around 250 people attended the event, and it brought different parts of the community together for a good cause. People from Tilghman to Easton to Bellevue filled a bowl.

“It was amazing. We had a really great event. The turnout was wonderful. The soups were amazing and were donated by local restaurants. We had music by The Royal Oak Musicians, and it was a festive upbeat event for the community,” said volunteer Amy Jacobs.

“It is a glimpse into what I think our community should be like. It was a lot of different people from the community that are all coming together and they are all sharing a meal and just getting to know each other, talk and support a great cause,” Jacobs said.

The soups were donated by The Ivy Cafe, Piazza, Garden and Garnish, Hambleton House, Pope’s, Tea at the General Store, Bluepoint Hospitality and the Bistro. Bread was donated by Panera.

Some of the soups included chicken dumpling, venison chili, vegetable barley with tomato, cream of mushroom, white bean winter vegetable and cured duck legs, pasta fagioli and butternut squash.

The food pantries that received support include Care Packs, the Neighborhood Service Center, Harvest of Hope Church of God, Royal Oak United Methodist, The Scott’s United Methodist Church, St. Michaels Community Center and the Tilghman Food Pantry. A new food pantry has been established at Chesapeake College, and it too benefited from this event.

There was a crew of 20 volunteers, many who came from local high schools and churches.

Qlarant provided a grant to allow groups like BAAM and The Multicultural Center to paint bowls at no cost.

Sponsors included Bette Kenzie and Ellen C. Evans.

Since 2009, when the event began, Talbot Empty Bowls has distributed $320,613, Jacobs said.

To learn more, visit talbotemptybowls.org.