Empty Bowls, Caring Hearts, Thunder Bay

The 2010 Empty Bowls, Caring Hearts Dinner,
A project in support of the Thunder Bay Food Bank and Shelter house
Will be held on Sunday October 17th, 2010.

Click here for Event details.

Local History

Empty Bowls Local History First started in Thunder Bay in 2000 by members of the Unitarian Fellowship and the Potters Guild. The first dinners were made and served by volunteers in Wesley Church. Diners had a choice of pottery bowls as well as an opportunity to bid on items donated for the Silent Auction. Potters found that making 180 bowls for donation each year was a little too much, so Quilters were invited to make placemats for the event. This is also the time that we moved to Confederation College. Tim Matthews and his students made the dinner one year and other years saw the kitchen staff cooking. Sometime during this interval, we found it difficult to obtain enough Silent Auction prizes from sources that already had many charitable demands. Someone came up with the idea of asking celebrities to sign bowls, which would then be fired and put up for auction. Alan Moon makes the bowls and Bob Manson contacts any celebrities coming into town to request a signature. In the past we have had signatures from Stephen Lewis, Lorena Mckinnit, Stewart McLean, Eric Staal and his brothers, Bruce Cockburn, David Suzuki, Rita MacNeil, Wendy Mesley, Gwen Dyer and many more. In 2006 we felt the need for a larger venue that was more accessible, so we moved to the Moose Hall. That year chef Derek Grizans prepared a chicken gumbo soup for us, while Fern of Good News Cafe prepared the veggie soup. In 2007, Fern once again supplied the veggie soup and volunteers made a delicious lentil soup.

It's all about

  It's not about the food, although it is good and nutritious.

  It's not about the décor and ambience, although it can be very decorative and homey.

  It's not about everything going perfectly and on schedule without a hitch, in fact the more that seems to go wrong the more appropriate it is.

  It's not about raising a huge amount of money although the more money raised the better, and it goes to a worthy recipient but that's not what it's about either.

  It's not about getting something to take home to remind you about those less fortunate although that is done and that is part of it.

  It's all about awareness of the hunger of those who are less fortunate in our community. When something "goes wrong" at an Empty Bowls Dinner / Souper Sunday as it is called at our AGM, it makes us think about food and how some of our neighbours have these little things happen routinely or perhaps no food at all. I love when something goes awry, it makes the dinner even more meaningful. It never was about the food but it one of the best meals I have each year.

I encourage every congregation to hold an Empty Bowls Dinner this fall (around World Food Day in October). For more information please, contact Bob Manson at .

A Caring Story

There is a story about a man who left this earth and was taken on a tour of the inner realms. He was shown a room where he saw a large group of hungry people trying to eat dinner, but because the spoons that they were trying to eat with were longer than their arms, they remained hungry and frustrated.

"This," the guide told him "is Hell." "That's terrible!" exclaimed the man, "Please show me Heaven!" The guide agreed, and on they went. When they opened Heaven's door the man was perplexed to see what looked very much like the same scene: there was a group of people with spoons longer than their arms. As he looked more closely, however, he saw happy faces and full tummies, for there was one important difference: the people in Heaven had learned how to feed each other.

We believe that here on earth we can learn to feed one another as well. It is our goal to raise money to help feed hungry people in our community and to help bring about an attitude that will not allow hunger to exist.

The Empty Bowls Caring Hearts Dinner is organized by the Empty Bowls Committee and supported by community volunteers. The Dinner is a project in support of the Thunder Bay Food Bank and Shelter House.