Third Annual Empty Bowls Fundraiser Scheduled for Thursday

The Eagan & Lakeville Resource Centers welcome the community to join the 3rd Annual Empty Bowls fundraiser to be held Thursday, March 22,  from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, 3930 Rahn Road in Eagan.

This unique event pairs local art with hunger relief advocates to raise money to eliminate hunger in Dakota County. Local potters have been throwing bowls throughout the year so that by March, over 800 bowls have been handcrafted. Guests of the event select a handmade bowl, make a donation (suggested $20 per bowl) to hunger relief, enjoy signature soup and bread from one of many local restaurants, and leave with an “empty bowl” as a symbol of hunger in our community.

Signature soup has been donated from generous local restaurants including Eagan’s Doolittles Woodfire Grill, Jensen’s Supper Club, Green Mill Restaurant and Bar, Granite City Food & Brewery, Qdoba Mexican Grill, Houlihan’s Restaurant, as well as Jensen’s Café in Burnsville and Lucky’s 13 Pub in Mendota Heights. Fresh bread from Panera Bread will accompany the meal. A children’s soup meal is available at $5 each.

To reach the ambitious goal of 800 bowls, the Eagan Art House supported the event by holding a day long bowl throw in November, which produced over 200 bowls.  Generously, clay artists at the Art House throw bowls all year long to reach the goal. New this year to the event, owner of Eagan’s Color Me Mine, Julie Schroeder, provided 200 soup mugs for community members to paint and donate to the event. Art students at Inver Hills Community College, under the direction of instructor Wendy Olson, have earned extra credit for donating their handcrafted soup bowls. Kitty Soderberg, Lakeville North art teacher, also encouraged her high school students to donate their work.

Other highlights of the Empty Bowls event include live music by The Nodes in the evening and a daylong art drawing. Guests are encouraged to purchase chances for up to ten pieces of local, original artwork, including jewelry, up-cycled art, hand blown glass, garden sculpture, pottery, oil painting, and fused glass.

Local businesses and organizations throughout the metro area make Empty Bowls possible through their generous sponsorship, including Thrivent Financial, Superior Collision, Farm Show magazine, Mohagen Hansen Architectural Group, Harris Companies and Valley Natural Foods. 

"Whether it’s local restaurants, businesses, artists, educators, students, neighbors and friends, surely a talented group of people have united around this event to eliminate hunger in Dakota County," said Nancy Wester, Eagan & Lakeville Resource Center Community Relations.

The Eagan & Lakeville Resource Centers is a 501(c)3, nonprofit organization committed to serving those in need and to eliminating hunger in Dakota County, serving upward of 1,000 families each month. For more information on Empty Bowls or the Eagan & Lakeville Resource Centers, visit www.eaganrc.org or phone 651-688-3189.