'Empty Bowl' fundraiser aims to fill up food bank

Each bowl will nourish more than those stopping by for lunch, they will nourish the community with hope.

After a multi-year absence, the Bonner Community Food Bank is again hosting its Empty Bowl fundraiser.

This year's event is being held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Tango Cafe, 414 Church St. For $20, you will receive a choice between two soups, bread, dessert and a handmade bowl to take home.

About 100 bowls were created by Sandpoint High School pottery students under the direction of art teacher Zabrielle Dillon to support the food bank's mission.

The Empty Bowl fundraiser was first held in the community in mid-November 2015 in recognition of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week.

While it hasn't been held for several years, the popular fundraiser is back to raise both awareness and funds for the community food bank.

In Bonner County, a significant percentage of the population struggles with hunger. In 2017, numbers show that the food bank was helping more than 900 area families each month. By 2021, the number of families helped by the food bank had increased to an average of 1,020 families a month. It again increased in 2022 with the number of families helped each month increasing to about 1,350 families between the two facilities — one is Sandpoint and the other in Priest River.

The food bank saw 33,000 visits in 2022 and that record topped the previous record number of 24,000 in 2021. 

While a common misconception says those who use a food bank are lazy, Love said that's far from the case. Most are the working poor or turn to the food bank when they've run out of options.

"We have people coming in all the time not wanting to but they don't have anywhere else to go," Love said previously. "They're very prideful people, especially the older generation, they, you know, grew up in a time when, during the Depression, or that time when they utilized every little thing. So when they get to that point, they think, 'Oh, a can of soup is just fine.' But really that's the only thing they have in their cupboard."

Love said she works to get as much fresh produce as she can, with local gardeners helping them stay flush over the summer with an assortment of vegetables. A "grocery rescue program" in which local stores donate items nearing the end of their lifecycle, but still good, to the food bank. A partnership with Litehouse Foods helped create a shopping list potential donors can download from the food bank's website or Facebook page.

The list includes such staples such as peanut butter, tuna fish, canned meat, canned pasta, canned tomato sauce and canned pasta sauce. Other items, such as baking supplies and seasonings, also are welcomed.

Events like the Empty Bowl fundraiser bring both awareness and much-needed funds to the food bank.

To donate to the food bank, learn more about its services or find out how to volunteer, go online to foodbank83864.com; or on Facebook, facebook.com/bonnercommunityfoodbank.