Filling empty bowls to feed hungry children
They call the project "Empty Bowls," a local program started by Floyd potter McCabe Coolidge and his wife Karen Day. Along with New River Community Action and a lot of volunteers who cook soup, bake bread, concoct desserts and help put the event together, the project raised more than $5,000 this year for the "Backpacks for Kids" project that provides backpacks with food for needy children.
The crowd gathered before the doors officially opened at 11 a.m. at The Jacksonville Center Sunday and the soup and food flowed.
For $10, eaters picked out their own bowls and then picked from a variety of soups while listening to music from local musicians.
This is the second year for what is now a firmly-established annual event on Floyd County’s charity schedule.
(The photos are the top of this article are a slide show. Click on the "Next" and "Previous" clinks to scroll through the photos)
While McCabe Coolidge, Karen Days, and all of the participating volunteers deserve a huge round of applause for their hard work, I’d like to point out that Empty Bowls is an international project. There are a lot of folks in Floyd who are very forward looking and they all deserve our gratitude for bringing this project to Floyd. Perhaps surrounding communities will establish their own projects in the future!
Go to the Empty Bowls website for more information.