Carson City addresses local hunger with Empty Bowls community meal Friday at Carson Mall
Submitted by Jeff Munson on Wed, 11/29/2023 - 9:50pm
Event Date:
December 1, 2023 - 4:00pm
A delicious and savory start into the holiday giving season while recognizing local hunger and food insecurity needs, an annual tradition returns to Carson City with the Empty Bowls project Friday, Dec. 1 at the Carson Mall.
From 4 to 8 p.m. this local's favorite holiday food event brings together Carson City restaurants and the community to share delicious soups and dishes and raise money and awareness to the area's local need providing nourishment for the hungry and helping families who struggle to afford healthy meals.
The Empty Bowl project address this, offering a modest meal and a handcrafted bowl at an affordable cost to increase awareness that food insecurity is a real problem in our community. The fundraising goal is to raise at least $10,000 to donate to Friends In Service Helping food programs, also known as FISH.
To achieve these goals the Empty Bowls Carson City planning committee works with Ogres-Holm Pottery in Carson City to host free bowl-making evenings every other week from March through October each year. The committee works with local potters to teach the necessary skills to anyone who wants to help create or decorate a bowl.
This year, nearly 1,000 hand-crafted bowls were created by local community members and artisans at Ogres-Holm Pottery studio in Carson City. Some experience the art of crafting a clay bowl for the first time. The experience brings families together and allows people to meet their neighbors.
Several hundred additional bowls have been created and donated by local potters, school groups, and other crafts persons. The committee expects to have over 1200 bowls for the public to choose from at their December 1st meal event. There are bowls created by children and by adults; skilled and new potters; accomplished artists and paintbrush amateurs; every participant adds their unique flourish to our bowl gallery. Our community works all year to create and donate these handcrafted bowls.
With the assistance of FISH staff, the volunteer planning committee coordinates the annual meal event that serves 800 to 1.000 people. The food is donated by local restaurants, F.I.S.H. donates the food service expertise, the Carson Mall donates the entire north end of the mall, and Ogres-Holm Pottery is turned into a food service line for the event. Several local groups will be providing entertainment throughout the evening.
This year’s local restaurant participants include Flavors of India, Mangia Tutto, Poke Beach, Glen Eagles Restaurant, Great Basin Brewing Company, Casino Fandango, Fox Brewpub, and The Grille at Gold Dust West among others.
The Empty Bowls Carson City planning committee invites all to celebrate the holidays, share a meal with your neighbors, and take a bowl home with you as a reminder that there are Empty Bowls in our community. Dining is from 4 to 8 p.m. at Carson Mall. Enter on the north side.
For just $15, attendees will receive a hand-crafted bowl to take home [as a reminder of bowls that remain empty and without food in our community] and the opportunity to try any of the specialty meals donated for the event by local restaurants.
This event shares the evening with the downtown Silver and Snowflake Festival of Lights state tree lighting event.
For tickets, head over to FISH Carson City Thrift Store, 138 East Long Street this week; Ogres-Holm Pottery inside the Carson Mall, or online here.
Event history
Ogres-Holm Pottery, in Carson City, has been hosting free bowl-making events since 2016. The Carson Mall has donated the entire north end of the mall for the big meal event since 2017.
Local restaurants have donated all of the food served since 2014.
Proceeds from this fundraiser will go to the food program at Friends In Service Helping (FISH) a local private non-profit social services organization that provides help and assistance to the homeless and needy in Carson City, Lyon and Douglas counties.
