A group of school districts, colleges and universities is once again collaborating on the West Texas Food Bank fundraiser Empty Bowls.
Plans are to hold it — in person — from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. March 6 in courtyard of the Mesa Building on the University of Texas Permian Basin campus.
The event is usually held in January with all proceeds going to the food bank.
Chris Stanley, associate professor of art, is a founder of Empty Bowls. He said having it back at UTPB means it has come full circle.
The last couple of years have been challenging due to COVID. Stanley added that he’s “super excited” that UTPB is championing the event this year.
“Each college/university is … targeting about 300 bowls, so we’ve got our 300 bowls already made at UTPB. We’re in the process of finishing them because we want to be kind of ahead of the game so that we can respond whatever situation there is. So we’re hosting some bowl decorating events now because the bowls are already made,” he said.
Several organizations have volunteered to help. The women’s group from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was expected to help Jan. 19.
Additionally, area schools have come on board, as has Permian High School.
“… So it’s growing beyond itself and as kind of the original person who put the seed in the ground here with that core group of students who did it, it’s just absolutely amazing to … sit back. Now we’re getting phone calls from people who want to help us and so we’ve built that positive reputation on the project. … It’s been a joy the last couple of years. It’s been so easy just making the bowls because we don’t have to worry about also decorating them because we have groups of people who want to come help. To me, it’s really what Empty Bowls is about. It’s about bringing the community together to work to end hunger — something that we all know is going to be impossible — but at least people are willing to put the sweat equity in to … make it work,” Stanley said.
He has put 22 years of his life into the project.
“… In a weird way, it’s come to define part of my essence. I don’t know what a year would be like if, in a cyclical manner, we weren’t glazing bowls and making bowls,” Stanley said.
The project has a life of its own now and many of his former students, their parents and even grandparents have been part of it.
Stanley described it as “incredibly humbling.”
“That’s what you hope for as a teacher is that the message resonates through generations …,” he added.
Director of Marketing and Communications Craig Stoker said Empty Bowls is a great outdoor event.
“… We talked about a space big enough to have it. We still wanted to do it outdoors. … Nobody knows what’s gonna happen tomorrow, let alone two months from now. But that also gives us some cover in case there’s wind. If it’s really nice, we could move up onto the deck. But I doubt that we do that,” Stoker said.
“I’ve been to several things that UTPB does. They’ve had football pep rallies and things down there. It’s a great space. What we decided to do is the event has really outgrown what we can house here (at the food bank), so we wanted to find a space that was big enough. Surprisingly, and to my knowledge, the party has never happened on any of the campuses and they’re the ones that make all the bowls …,” he added.
When Odessa College announced plans for a multi-use area downtown, Stoker said he thought of rotating the event from UTPB, to Midland College and then Odessa College, for example.
“It allows the colleges to really highlight their roles and what they’ve put into this. We’re in the 22nd (year) and without what they’ve done, this event doesn’t exist,” Stoker said.
He added that it would also give middle school students, for example, a chance to see what a college campus is like.
Empty Bowls is a partnership of several colleges, universities, districts and private schools.
“And what they do is they make the bowls. There are local artists who throw the bowls. … The bowls go out to other partners to get glazed. They could go to the Boys and Girls Club, or the Ellen Noël Art Museum, so the bowls get glazed in that way; then they go back to UTPB,” Stoker said.
He added that UTPB and Midland College have the big kilns where they fire the bowls. The bowls are donated to the food bank and they throw a party where the bowls are sold for $15 each.
“… We partner with local restaurants to provide the soup and other food that goes in bowls. And because of a very generous … donation from HEB, we are able to have 100% of the event donated,” Stoker said.
People get to keep the bowls they have purchased.
“You can absolutely buy more than one. There’s definitely a following. People wait for Empty Bowls to come make sure that they get them. There’s several that have a bowl from every one of the events,” he said.
The public can throw the bowls, but there are more opportunities to glaze them. From 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Feb. 3, people can decorate bowls for Empty Bowls at Crockett Middle School.
Crockett is purchasing about 200 pre-made bowls. The hope is to have teams of parents and their children decorating them.
Typically, they have a large silent auction featuring pieces by local artists that help with revenue generation because all of those proceeds are donated to the food bank.
Since they aren’t having a signature event, this is “kind of taking the place of that.” But they also have a golf tournament and clay shoot, which is May 26, as fundraisers.
Stoker said he is expecting between 400 and 600 people at Empty Bowls.
“There’s no good way to tell. It seems like everything I’ve gone to has been really well attended. People are just ready to do things … in a normal way again. That was also one of the reasons that we wanted to have it in a big place … We’re doing it during UTPB’s spring break, so that we’ve got the full parking lot and the campus should be fairly empty. But … I think if we can get 600 people there that would be amazing,” Stoker said.
There will be the VIP tables for $500 each that will seat eight. With that, you get the pick of the kiln, bowls the artists have chosen. They will have their own food line, so they won’t have to wait in the big line.
