Empty Bowls

[Jun 1]

Plowshares 13th annual Empty Bowls Event is Saturday, June 1 Picture long tables full of beautiful locally handcrafted ceramic bowls – including one special bowl for you to select and take home with you. Listen to live music by the Fair Winds band as you peruse irresistible live and silent auction items and sample a variety of appetizers; then fill your chosen bowl with all-you-can-eat sumptuous gourmet soups, accompanied by fresh bread, a choice of exquisite desserts, and wine and beer that are included in the ticket price. There’s even a drawing for a 13’ Catalina Capri sailboat that can be taken home by the lucky winner that very night! (Tickets are $25 or 5 for $100; a max of 200 will be sold to increase chances of winning. They are on sale now at the Plowshares office, and the winner doesn’t need to be present for the drawing.) All of this will happen on Saturday, June 1 at 5:30 pm at Plowshares’ 13th annual Empty Bowls fundraising event. Empty Bowls is an international movement of hunger-awareness events that began in Michigan in 1990, with the simple but powerful concept of raising both awareness of hunger and funds for programs addressing local hunger needs. The bowls at Plowshares’ event, created and donated by local artists including Jan Hoyman Studio and the Mendocino College Ceramics Club led by Doug Browe, are taken home as a reminder of hunger persisting in our own area. All funds raised at the event will support Plowshares’ meals for the hungry and other services for the homeless and those most in need. The core mission of Plowshares is “that no one in our community go hungry.” Its Community Dining Room has served free hot meals since 1983, open to all with no questions asked. Last month Plowshares served a total of over 6,000 meals. The Dining Room recently began serving meals regularly on Saturdays, with assistance from Adventist Community Ministry volunteers, for the first time in Plowshares’ history. The Meals-on-Wheels program for disabled, homebound seniors has also expanded to include an additional delivery route, plus frozen meals delivered for both Saturday and Sundays. It is a time of transition as well as expansion for Plowshares, which is currently seeking a new executive director. “It’s a challenging but also very rewarding job,” says Interim Director Mary Buckley. “We are looking for the right person who has good skills and a good heart, and wants to address local needs in a direct and meaningful way.” This year’s Empty Bowls event is sponsored by: (gold level) Adventist Health Ukiah Valley, Friedman’s Home Improvement, and Flow Kana; (silver level) Beckstoffer Vineyards, Community First Credit Union, Frey Vineyards, Rick and Colleen Henderson, McCarty’s Auto Body, Mendocino Redwood Companies, and Redwood Credit Union; and (bronze level) C & C Construction, One Feather Ranch, and Savings Bank of Mendocino County. Many volunteers and donors are contributing to what promises to be an extraordinary event. Auction items include an overnight plus two massages at Orr Hot Springs; a night at the Mendocino Hotel packaged with a Skunk Train ride and a visit to the Mendocino Botanical Gardens; tickets plus a bottle of wine for every Summer Concert at Nelson Family Vineyards; an art quilt by Laura Fogg; handcrafted wooden toys by Gary Peters; a loaf of bread a week for a year from Schat’s Bakery; Sonoma hot-air ballooning and zip-lining; wine, gift baskets, and much more. The soups will include Mendocino Animal Hospital’s first-place prize-winning chili recipe from Granite Construction’s Chili Cook-off last year; vegan Southwest corn chowder from Adventist Health; Julio Pardini’s famous minestrone, and a gazpacho from Plowshares’ own kitchen. Appetizers will be supplied by Stan’s Café, Mendo Chef, and others, and desserts by Dutch Girl Desserts, Char Jacobs, and others. Empty Bowls event tickets are $75; this year the price includes beer and wine rather than having to buy drinks separately. Tables of 8 are also available for $600. Tickets may be purchased at Mendocino Book Company (102 S. School St), at the Plowshares office (1346 S. State St) or online at http://www.PlowsharesFeeds.orgwww.PlowsharesFeeds.org. More information is available online or by calling 707-462-8582. Plowshares thanks the many generous individuals, businesses and other organizations who make it possible to provide life-saving services to the homeless, hungry, disabled seniors and other most vulnerable members of our community – and looks forward to an extraordinary and uplifting evening on June 1!