PORT ANGELES – Empty Bowls, the Port Angeles Food Bank’s largest annual fundraiser, first held in the fall of last year, returns this coming Saturday, September 16 at 5 pm.
This year’s event features pottery bowls made by local ceramics students and soups made by Chef Neil Dexter, the food bank’s newly announced kitchen manager.
Money raised at Empty Bowls goes immediately to funding Friday Food Bags, a grocery sack of weekend food sent home from school each week. Friday Food Bags are assembled by volunteers and driven to the schools by staff. The program is expected to cost the Port Angeles Food Bank $150,000 this school year. Last year, about 63% of Port Angeles students’ families were low-income, according to the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Neil Dexter, formerly of Toga’s Soup Kitchen, will create three soups for the evening including vegan, gluten-free, and dairy-free options.
Empty Bowls will be held at the food bank’s campus at 632 N Oakridge Drive, Port Angeles, near Walmart. Tickets are $25 for entry and soup or $35 for entry, soup, and your choice of hand-crafted bowl to take home. A raffle is planned and event-label wine from Olympic Cellars will be available for purchase.
Sponsors of the event are Country Aire Natural Foods, Dave’s Heating and Cooling, First Fed, and Rossi Construction.
Tours of the Port Angeles Food Bank’s 20,000 square-foot building, including The Market and kitchen, will be available during the event. The first anniversary of The Market, opened in September 2022, will be celebrated.
Tickets to Empty Bowls are available online at portangelesfoodbank.org, or at the door.
(Photo by Amy McIntyre: Bowls created by students of the Sequim School District and the Clay Club at Peninsula College)