Short Press Release
Tuesday, Sept. 26, 2017
For Immediate Release

Prepared by
Steve Wong
Just4Wong@Gmail.com
864 316 6559

Soup’s On
Hub City Empty Bowls Gears Up for Soup Day, Oct. 28

Soup’s on — on Saturday, Oct. 28, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at Chapman Cultural Center.

Hub City Empty Bowls will host its annual Soup Day to raise money and awareness for hunger in Spartanburg, where about 16 percent of the people are not sure where their next meal is coming from. Spearheaded by Carolina Clay Artists, Soup Day is a community event where citizens can make $15 donations to receive locally handmade pottery bowls and a simple meal of soup, bread, tea, and the fellowship of others who want to make Spartanburg a better place to live. All money raised will be given to TOTAL Ministries, a local nonprofit charity that helps Spartanburg citizens in dire financial straits. Last year, 2016, Hub City Empty Bowls gave more than $33,000 to TOTAL Ministries. For every bowl taken by a patron, 83 pounds of food can be secured for those in need.

In addition to several hundred pottery bowls to choose from and about two dozen soups donated by local restaurants, patrons will be able to enjoy live music, a silent auction, and a drum circle on an autumn day.

During the summer, Hub City Empty Bowls hosted three public bowl-making events, where the general public was able to make handmade pottery bowls at no cost. All supplies, space, and instruction were donated. These were wholesome, creative, and well attended community events that welcomed everyone, even children who made some of the most endearing bowls. The hand-shaped bowls were left in at the host studios -- West Main Artists Co-Op and Spartanburg Art Museum -- for touch-ups, painting, and firing. In addition, several experienced and professional potters donated bowls, many of which were wheel thrown and of professional quality. All of those bowls will be available on Soup Day. Many people do their Christmas shopping at Soup Day, securing gifts that have significant social and creative meaning.

Empty Bowls is a worldwide charitable and social phenomenon without any oversight or headquarters. It was started in 1990-91 by a high school art teacher who wanted to involve his students in an art-based community project of making pottery bowls that could be used to raise money to feed the poor. From that humble beginning, the concept spread around the world, taking on many different aspects, but always keeping locally made pottery bowls as the source of the fundraising.

For more information about Hub City Empty Bowls’s 2017 Soup Day, please visit online HubCityEmptyBowls.com.

This program is funded in part by Chapman Cultural Center, its donors, the County and City of Spartanburg, and the South Carolina Arts Commission that receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of the Coastal Community Foundation of SC.