Editorial: Soup is good food for thought

The symbolism of an empty bowl is powerful.

We hope it’s enough to encourage you to stop by Valley Presbyterian Church on Saturday for a bowl of soup, bread and cookies.

The bowl and food are part of a fundraiser called Empty Bowls, benefiting Green Valley Assistance Services and the Green Valley Community Food Bank.

For a $10 donation, you can have lunch featuring gourmet soup in a specially designed bowl. Soups come from some of the area’s best restaurants, including Grill on the Green, Coaches, Kristofer’s Catering and Deli, La Placita, Arizona Family Restaurant, Elks, La Posada and Trattoria Ragazzi.

The bowls were created by individual designers, some from the Green Valley Recreation Clay Group, Green Valley Ceramic Club, Southern Arizona Clay Association and Corona Foothills Middle School.

An important part of the lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. will be the ability to sample the soup, bread and cookies.

A more important aspect will be the symbolism. When you take home the bowl as a keepsake, it hopefully will serve as a reminder that someone’s bowl is empty.

The idea for Empty Bowls came from an art teacher in Michigan. His students were looking for ways to support a local food drive. The class came up with the idea of making ceramic bowls for a fund-raising meal. Guests were served a meal of soup and bread and were allowed to keep the bowl as a reminder of hunger in the world.

In years that followed, the simple concept became known as Empty Bowls, a fundraiser for food banks, soup kitchens and other organizations that fight hunger.

Green Valley Assistance Services committee members Kathy Babcock, Anita Burton, Connie Davis, Carol Heller, and Julie Miller joined with project manager Barbara Hunt to bring Empty Bowls to Green Valley for the first time.

“This event is really going to help the hungry right here in our community,” said Hunt, an artist who has been working on bowls for the lunch herself.

Hunt participated in an Empty Bowls event in Wisconsin and was inspired to propose the idea for Green Valley.

“I thought it would be a great way to assist the food bank here,” she said.

Local sponsors and restaurants agreed and have shown overwhelming support.

Other sponsors include Dorn Homes, Plants for the Southwest, Susan and James Sidd and the Green Valley News and Sun.

We encourage you to stop by, spend $10 and have lunch. Fighting hunger in the Green Valley area is one of our top priorities.

As we’ve said before, it’s easy to overlook hunger in a place as affluent as Green Valley. Some of you may never come in contact with the problem.

Unfortunately, hunger is real. It involves your neighbors.

The Green Valley Community Food Bank urgently needs canned beans, vegetables and macaroni and cheese, for example, to feed its clients. More than 850 people looked to the Food Bank for assistance last month alone.

“Most folks would probably be surprised,” Hunt said, “at how many in our community have to choose between food and other necessities; it’s a great way for all of us to help.”

If you need more information about Empty Bowls or want to make a donation, contact Green Valley Assistance Services at 625-5966.