20th Annual Empty Bowls Event Is Oct. 14

Handled and traditional, handmade ceramic bowls will be available for a $15 donation during the upcoming annual Empty Bowls fundraiser, which helps families that are food insecure in Weakley County.

The 20th Annual Martin Empty Bowls will be held at the Martin Public Library downtown stage on Saturday, Oct. 14 from 8 a.m. to noon. Organizers decided to move the event to the heart of downtown in hopes to better connect it with the community at large. The hours have also been expanded by two additional hours to give a better window of opportunity for visitors to come by and grab their favorite bowls. As in the past, all proceeds from the event go to support the local food pantry at WE CARE Ministries that serves families in Weakley County.

For newcomers to the event, Martin Empty Bowls is a regional project of the larger grassroots movement called Empty Bowls Project. This chapter of Empty Bowls was founded in 2003 by David McBeth, retired UT Martin Art professor and potter, to help combat food insecurities in Martin. Potters, McBeth and Jason Woolery, and students of UTM have been busy creating hundreds of thoughtfully hand-crafted bowls in the university ceramics studio for this year’s event. Each of these bowls are available for a $15 donation.

“We invite you to join us! Please come peruse the wonderful, handmade bowls and help us support our neighbors in need,” organizers noted.