Press Release
For Immediate Release
Friday, May 24, 2019

Prepared by Steve Wong
Just4Wongf@Gmail.com
864 316 6559

Hub City Empty Bowls will sponsor a bowl-making event at West Main Artists Co-op in Spartanburg on Saturday, June 8, from 1 until 4 p.m. Everyone is invited to make pottery bowls, which will be used to raise funds to feed needy people of Spartanburg. There is no cost to participate, and all instruction and supplies are provided by volunteers from Carolina Clay Artists, the organization in charge of this annual not-for-profit community project.

“Every year, I am amazed at how this never gets old,” Hub City Empty Bowl chairman and Carolina Clay Artists board member Bruce Bowyer said. “There is something very special about the Empty Bowls project that brings people together to do good work in our community. All it takes is people coming together to shape clay and then coming together to eat soup.”

The first bowl-making event of 2019 was held in January at Wofford College. The third bowl-making event of the year will be at Converse College on Saturday, July 13.

To participate, you don’t need special skills or talents, just a creative spirit, willing hands, and the desire to help people in the community. The bowls made by citizens will be left at West Main Artists Co-op to be glazed and fired by volunteer potters.

All the bowls made throughout the year are gathered together for Soup Day, an event where the public can get the bowls of their choice for a donation of $20 each. Some people get several bowls to be used as gifts or table settings. There are hundreds of bowls in different colors and shapes, made by people with many different levels of experience.

During Soup Day, patrons enjoy a wide selection of donated soups, live music, and a silent auction. All proceeds from the event are donated to TOTAL Ministries, an organization that raises money to feed local citizens who are food insecure.

“There are approximately 37,000 Spartanburg County residents who are food insecure,” TOTAL Ministries’ Executive Director Traci Kennedy said. “People who are food insecure have to make a choice of paying to avoid utility disconnection or putting food on the table. Before partnering with Hub City Empty Bowls, our pantry would be empty during the summer months when donations are low. Now, although it is not always full, there is always food to help those in need.”

Hub City Empty Bowls is one of Spartanburg County’s most respected and successful grassroots fundraisers, now in its eleventh year. Its purpose is to use the making of pottery bowls as a means to raise money that will help feed local citizens who don’t have enough to eat. Each year, Hub City Empty Bowls raises tens of thousands of dollars that are given to a local charity that is aligned with this purpose.

For more information, visit HubCityEmptyBowls.com or its Facebook page.