Bowled Over

Today was the inaugural South Wood County Empty Bowls event. And, pun intended, I was bowled over by the success and support for it!

Since I was on the planning committee and Carter is always on the lookout for community service hours, we both headed to our church at 8 a.m. to help prep. It was evident from the moment we walked into First English Lutheran that this was a community -- not a just a congregation -- event.

We had volunteers from our parish and Scout groups and the neighborhood. We had multi-gallon soup donations from 7 local restaurants. We had desserts aplenty from "church ladies." We had about 230 pottery bowls crafted by our pastor and two other talented potters from the area.

And we had nerves and excitement.

You just never know how a first-time event is going to go. We felt pretty good about getting the word out -- with coverage in both local newspapers, the radio and even television. But still, our committee was conservative and cautiously optimistic. Our pastor, however, predicted we'd sell out of soup and bowls.

Good thing Pastor Josh has a decent track record for being right. Especially this time when it counted!

How did it work? Each person who attended paid $10, got to choose a ceramic bowl to keep (not an easy decision, I tell you), then enjoyed a lunch of delicious soup, fresh bread and dessert. The money raised goes to our local food pantry and a few other anti-hunger programs. The bowl goes home with donors to remind them that every day someone in need has an empty bowl.

If you thought choosing a bowl was hard (Jim grabbed this one in front before treating me to lunch and Carter got the one in the middle with the yellow and blue design) -- choosing a soup flavor wasn't easy either. I highly recommend the Cajun Bean, while hubby supports the Chicken Gumbo and Carter favored the Chicken Dumpling. Yum. Yum!

Here's Pastor Josh with one of his bowls. I think even though he predicted a good turnout, we were all amazed that we had 100 bowls sold by 11:10 a.m.... and it officially started at 11 a.m.! Whoo-hoo!

It was encouraging to see such community support and hear all the wonderful comments from attendees. I am grateful to be a part of it.

And, of course, any time I can spend the day with my baby is a bonus, too!