This Saturday, April 2, Waynesburg University Bonner Scholars are partnering with the Community Foundation of Greene County to host an Empty Bowls event at the National Guard Readiness Center from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. This Empty Bowls event is meant to raise awareness for childhood hunger in Greene County, as all money raised from the event will go towards the Weekend Food Program, which provides meals for students from the five surrounding Greene County school districts on the weekends.
“[It is meant for] children who maybe just aren’t getting enough to eat at home or maybe there’s scarce resources, so that way they come back [to school] on Monday ready to go and they’re not sluggish and they’re focused,” said Adrienne Tharp, coordinator of the Bonner Scholar Program.
The event is in its fourth year as a Bonner student-run event, and this year, junior Kenny Knouse is taking charge of the event with help from seniors Amanda Groft and Sydney Green. The three Bonner Scholars have been focusing on different aspects of the event, with Knouse focusing on gathering support from local Waynesburg businesses, Groft working with the Washington area and Green covering the Uniontown area trying to gather as many donations of food and other items as they can.
“It’s definitely a lot of work,” said Tharp. “Students that are working on it are definitely learning a lot of real life skills. Event planning, working with the community, networking [and] leadership. They are leading their peers with this. They’re having to make calls and go out in the community asking for donations and support.”
A lot of planning has gone into the event, according to Groft and Green, who said that they feel like they have been preparing for this year’s Empty Bowls event since last year’s ended. For the students, the fall semester is a lot of logistical work, while the spring semester really kick starts the planning aspect of the event.
“[At the] very beginning of this semester, I sent out additional thank-you letters to everyone who donated and played a part in last year’s [event] and told them about how well we did and asked if they were interested in donating again,” said Groft. “Then a month later, I started going to businesses face to face asking if they’d be interested in donating, and then a week or two later we started handing out fliers.”
At the event, many local businesses, including 5 Kidz Kandy, Hot Rods, Carlisle’s and others will contribute donations in some way, shape or form. There will be food and drinks readily available for those attending the event, including soup, bread, cookies, cake, coffee and many other items, there will be Chinese and silent auctions and everyone who is there will get their own personal ceramic bowl, which is meant to symbolize the idea of hunger in the community, according to Tharp.
Additionally, local artist Jennifer Adamson will make ceramic bowls of her own to donate to the event. There are many people from the area that will donate canned goods and artistic pieces to the event, according to Groft. Aladdin, Waynesburg University’s food service provider will also be contributing the Empty Bowls.
As the event continues to grow each year, the Bonner students are looking forward to see how much growth the event will have made from last year.
“I’m hoping for as good if not better than last year,” said Green. “We had about 220 people come last year. We raised a little over $6,000. I would really like to do that or better this year.”
Green added that she really enjoys how the event allows her to make a difference on those children that have not been as fortunate and don’t have the same privileges that people often overlook.
“I never really experienced hunger as a kid, so I feel like nobody else should have to, and I kind of feel like I’m helping to contribute to that,” said Green. “I feel like we should help at least the kids in our communities because they’re going to be our next generation.”
For those interested in participating and contributing to the Empty Bowls event, tickets can be purchased prior to this Saturday at the Center for Service Leadership on the first floor of Stover for $15, or they can be purchased at the event for $20. Anyone looking for more information about the Empty Bowls event can follow the Facebook and Instagram accounts for the event, or reach out to Knouse at kno1566@student.waynesburg.edu.
“One of my favorite things with service is focusing on hunger awareness. It’s always just something I’ve be called to,” said Groft. “So what I get out of it is knowing that the work I’m doing is directly benefitting those kids and the work from the event is raising awareness so the community is completely involved in it and we also help out local businesses which is really important to Greene County. And our leftovers help local soup kitchens, so it just cycles.”