If you want to do something about ending hunger in Cook County while ending your own hunger for one day, please attend Empty Bowls 2017.
This year’s fundraiser is Monday, November 13 and will be held in the lower level of St. John’s Catholic Church, located at 5th Street and Broadway, Grand Marais.
Lunch will be served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and dinner from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The occasion includes a meal of soup served in a handmade bowl. Also served is bread and a dessert made and donated by local restaurants. There is also a pendant sale, silent auction, and bake sale.
Empty Bowls is an annual fundraiser that benefits Cook County hunger programs. In 2016 $9,756 was raised.
It is also a chance to visit with people you might not often see, or meet and make a new friend in the community. Last year more than 380 people came to eat and some took part in the silent auction. There would have been more people in attendance but the date conflicted with the CCHS girls’ volleyball team making state, something that occurred again this year. That’s why the date was changed to Monday. Organizers are hoping to reach 480 guests or more. In the past, before the three straight trips to the state tournament by the girls’ high school volleyball team, nearly 500 people would attend Empty Bowls.
How important is this?
One out of eight Americans goes to bed hungry every day. More than 48 million Americans now use food stamps. Hunger in the U.S. is real and should be a concern for all.
All of the money raised stays in the community. Some is donated to the Cook County Food Shelf, Meals on Wheels, school backpack program, or any nonprofit organization that helps feed the hungry in Cook County.
“Organizations need to apply to us to be eligible to receive money from this fund,” said Beth Kennedy, one of the chief organizers. “The process is simple, however. We only ask for the name of the organization, a contact person and one paragraph about how they will use the money. There is no red tape with this program.”
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