Empty Bowls where Art and Charity Meet

Pottery bowls displayed on tables and sitting on shelves. Bowls shaped like delicate lotus flowers, bowls with glazes of mottled blue, bowls in earth tones, and bowls adorned with ridges. The handmade bowls — nearly 250 of them — helped to raise funds at the on Saturday, Oct. 15, to benefit the nonprofit organization, Help by Phone.

About 20 potters associated with Greenbelt Pottery, an informal artists’ collective of students and teachers at the Greenbelt Community Center, donated the bowls as part of the Empty Bowls Project, an international grassroots coalition of potters and other craftspeople dedicated to combating hunger.

The purchase of a ticket entitled the ticket holder to choose a pottery bowl and enjoy a simple meal of homemade soup and bread. After the event, guests were invited to keep their bowls, as a reminder of the many empty bowls in the world — the symbols and symptoms of a global food crisis.

The meal was prepared by the members of the Greenbelt Community Church. Parishioners brought crocks of hearty chili, minestrone and lentil soups, and a vegan butternut squash soup, among others. A savory sausage soup disappeared quickly. Baskets of wheat and rye bread, pans of brownies and vegan chocolate cake, and plates of sugar cookies accompanied the soup.

Congregation members, Greenbelt neighbors, children, local politicians, Red Hat Society Ladies, and the potters all mingled at long tables decorated with more handmade pottery.

About seven years ago, Greenbelt Pottery selected the Prince George’s County based-food bank Help by Phone, as the beneficiary of its fundraiser. Lois Jones, the Executive Director of Help by Phone, mentioned that this was the fourth or fifth Empty Bowls fundraiser.

Chris Coyle, one of the potters, explained that it takes many months for the potters to accumulate enough stock to hold the fundraiser, so it doesn’t happen every year. Some potters donated two or three bowls; Chris managed to create 25!

Lois Jones described how, since 1968, Help by Phone has offered short-term assistance to Prince George’s County residents, including several days of “stick-to-your-ribs” staple food, clothing, transitional shelter for homeless families and men, transportation to medical appointments, financial aid to obtain prescription medicines, and financial counseling.

She estimated that the privately funded organization—with the assistance of several faith-based organizations and 200 volunteers—helped nearly 60,000 people this past year.

For more information about Help by Phone, you may contact them at (301) 699-9009.