Empty Bowls event includes work by NFM teachers
The second annual Empty Bowls event in Fort Myers will take place on Saturday, Dec. 4, from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Alliance for the Arts. Art students in Lee County have been busy creating the ceramic bowls which will be available for purchase.
Empty Bowls combines art, music, and great food. For a $10.00 donation to the Harry Chapin Food Bank, attendees can select a beautiful, handcrafted bowl created by school students, then enjoy the variety of soup provided by local restaurants, bread provided by Panera Bread, and music.
Suzie Somogyi, Lehigh High School, is the chair of Empty Bowls Lee County. Local art teachers who have worked with their students to create beautiful bowls include Ann Cooper, Ida Baker; Nancy Monyhan, Riverdale; Theresa West-Taylo, N. Ft Myers Academy of the Arts; Jennifer Hambling, Estero; Carolyn Gora, Cypress Lake Middle School; Marguerite Huseby, Cape High; Jamie Lomas, Lehigh Middle School; Kellen Mills. Dunbar Middle School; Jennifer Riley, Mariner; Linda Meyer, Ida Baker; Kathleen Bean, Rayma Page Elementary; Alisha Koyonis, James Stevens International Academy; Micki Smith, Cypress Lake; Dyann Miller, North Fort Myers; Eric Riemenshneider, Lexington Middle School; Laurie Belle, Three Oaks Elementary; Christina Penuel, Lehigh Senior High; James Sigmon, East Lee County High; Elethia Oliver-Ajose, Dunbar; Bonnie Rodgers, San Carlos Park Elementary; Tina Miller, South High; and Marjorie Rester, Varsity Lakes.
Restaurants providing soups include the following: Panera Bread-broccoli and chedder; Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre-Rhode Island creamy clam chowder; CRU-roasted red pepper; Hickory BBQ-to be determined; Jason’s Deli-French onion and chicken noodle; LaMotta’s-minestrone; Mel’s Diner-chicken noodle; Oasis-split pea/chicken dumplings; Prawnbroker-chili; Sweet Tomatoes-creamy herbed turkey; and University Grill-pasta Fagioli.
Celebrity servers will include Fort Myers Mayor Randy Henderson, County Commissioner Ray Judah, and News-Press cartoonist Doug McGregor, columnist Drew Sterwald, and Downtown Diva Stephanie Davis.
Groups providing musical entertainment during the event are
11:00-11:30 – Daniel Doxie jazz group
11:30-12:00 – Dorothy Graham chorus
12:00-12:30 – Sandy Lantz drummers
1:00-1:30 – Robert Mezzio recorder group
1:30-2:00 – Willie Sparrow chorus.
In addition, Theresa West-Taylo, Jennifer Hambling, and Chas Bean will provide pottery demonstrations on the potters wheel.
Also being showcased during Empty Bowls is a new 24-foot refrigerated vehicle which will be used to support the Harry Chapin retail store donation program activities. This vehicle was received through a Walmart Foundation grant. The vehicle is currently being utilized to retrieve and transport fresh produce, meats, and other nutritious food donations from the 74 retail stores which donate regularly to the food bank. It’s anticipated that this new vehicle will result in more than one million pounds of food, valued at $1,642,200 annually, being available to the food bank’s partner agencies.
The Harry Chapin Food Bank solicits, collects and stores quality food for distribution to families in need through a network of more than 170 local nonprofit agencies in Lee, Collier, Hendry, Charlotte and Glades counties, who provide food to more than 30,000 people monthly. Over 800,900 pounds of food are distributed monthly. For every dollar donated, about $6 in food value goes back to the community. In the past fiscal year, The Harry Chapin Food Bank distributed more than 9.6 million pounds of food and other grocery products.
Additional information about or to contribute financially to the Harry Chapin Food Bank, contact 239-334-7007 or go to harrychapinfoodbank.org.