Empty Bowls

The Oregon Potters Association coordinates Empty Bowls, a fund-raiser to benefit Oregon Food Bank and its work to eliminate hunger and its root causes … because no one should be hungry.

OPA is a group of creative potters working in Oregon and southwest Washington. The association collects pottery donations from its members throughout the year and sells them—often at bargain prices —at the Safeway Waterfront Blues Festival.

Since 1993, OPA's Empty Bowls has raised more than $198,000 to help fight hunger in Oregon and Clark County, Wash. Last year, OPA's Empty Bowls fund-raiser raised more than $12,994 for Oregon Food Bank.

Distribution of Emergency Food throughout Oregon and Clark County, Wash., has reached record levels. In an average month, more than 230,000 people rely on food from emergency food boxes to stave off hunger in Oregon and Clark County, Wash. Of those, 36 percent are children.

"Oregon Potters Association is once again pleased to contribute to the efforts to help feed people who are hungry," says Bill Sanchez, chair of this year's event. "The Event provides local potters a way to make a personal difference. In addition to pottery, the booth will include some glass art, thanks to donations from local glass artists who are members of the Oregon Glass Guild."

The empty bowl symbolizes hunger and poverty faced by people throughout the world. A group of Michigan potters created Empty Bowls in 1991. The program is now a fund-raising project in all 50 states.

Thank you, members of Oregon Potters Association!