After a two-year in-person hiatus, Wittenberg’s annual Empty Bowls fundraiser is returning. The event will take place on Thursday, April 21.

Wittenberg has been running its version of Empty Bowls for more than 25 years with great success, raising more than $540,000 (which equates to 2,372,592 meals) for the Second Harvest Food Bank.  

This year’s highly anticipated event will take place from 4:30 to 7 p.m. in the Atrium and Room 105 of the Joseph C. Shouvlin Center for Lifelong Learning with COVID-related alterations. A scaled-down version of the event was held online the past two years due to the pandemic.

This year’s event will not be a dine-in experience; instead patrons will be able to select a bowl for the price of $20 and choose from several soups provided by local restaurants. The soup will be placed in to-go containers, spacing/distancing will be observed, and flow of people through the space will be monitored. The plan will be to have a one-directional flow of traffic. 

Wittenberg’s Department of Art in conjunction with Second Harvest Food Bank hosts the Empty Bowls fundraiser with all proceeds supporting the mission of Second Harvest Food Bank in Springfield. Empty Bowls exemplifies Wittenberg’s service-based mission, which encourages all students to discern their vocations and to understand the meaningful connection between self-fulfillment and service to the world.

In 2019, Wittenberg's Empty Bowls event set a new record by raising $50,187 for Second Harvest to help address food insecurity in Springfield and Clark County.  

Wittenberg ceramic students, staff, faculty, and community members throw, glaze, and fire approximately 1,000 bowls, 90 percent of which are made on Empty Bowls Throwing Days, held on Saturday/Sunday afternoons. The Second Harvest Food Bank lines up sponsors to donate the food. Patrons choose a bowl to purchase and take it home as a reminder that there are many people in our community that are hungry. 

Sarah Baker, class of 2019 from Springfield, Ohio, designed this year’s event T-shirts, which will be available for purchase.

“Empty Bowls is a loosely run national fundraising campaign aimed at combating hunger in local communities,” said Professor of Art Scott Dooley, who has helped to coordinate the annual event since its inception. “There are Empty Bowls events hosted all over the country. We are looking forward to hosting the event in-person this year.”

Every dollar raised provides five meals to hungry families in the community. The purchase of one bowl will provide 100 meals. Wittenberg has sold out of bowls in the past, so guests who wish to see the full selection and be assured of getting a bowl should plan to come early. 

 “Empty Bowls is a wonderful way for Second Harvest Food Bank to bring the community together. The event wouldn’t be possible without the support of local businesses, restaurants, and individuals joining together in raising awareness to end hunger,” said Tyra Jackson, executive director of Second Harvest Food Bank.

As the only food bank in Clark, Champaign and Logan Counties, Second Harvest Food Bank distributes more than six million pounds of food annually, with more than four million pounds going directly to Clark County. Second Harvest Food Bank’s daily operation consists of sourcing and gathering food, sorting and cataloging the food, then warehousing the inventory to be distributed to agency members throughout a three-county service area. 

Second Harvest Food Bank is a member of Feeding America and the Ohio Association of Foodbanks and is responsible for safe handling of all food products adhering to state and federal guidelines, including providing member oversight to pantries, soup kitchens and shelters.

For information or to become a sponsor of this year’s Empty Bowls event, please contact either Dooley at sdooley@wittenberg.edu or Jackson at (937) 325-8715 ext. 112 or tjackson@ccswoh.org. Sponsorships begin at the $100 level and, depending on the level of sponsorship, include several bowls and mention in press releases and event signage.  

About Second Harvest
Second Harvest Food Bank of Clark, Champaign and Logan Counties, a member of Feeding America, serves the tri-county community by sourcing, collecting, storing and distributing over six million pounds of food to 65 non-profit member agencies who feed the hungry directly.  Second Harvest is focused on bringing healthy, nutritious food to those in our communities struggling with hunger through innovative programs such as senior food initiatives and mobile pantry distributions.