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Residents of Farmville are coming together to fill their bowls and fight local hunger.

The Empty Bowls fundraiser is back at 6 p.m. Thursday, April 20, at High Bridge Stables 449 VA-354, Farmville. Tickets are $30 and all proceeds will go to FACES Food Pantry.

Empty Bowls is a grassroots movement by artists to raise money for food-related charities to help end hunger. Art communities across the country, especially in ceramics, hold similar events upholding the movement’s motto, “think globally, act locally.”

“It’s not organized, these events just happen in pottery communities,” said Adam Paulek. He works as an associate professor of art at Longwood University. “Farmville has a lot of ceramic artists and high-quality support through Mainly Clay that you don’t see in many towns.”

LONGWOOD STUDENTS DESIGN THE BOWLS

For the Farmville event, Longwood Design in Craft students and Mainly Clay have partnered to create the unique bowls for the event. With their ticket, attendees will get one of the unique hand-crafted bowls and a serving of soup provided by local restaurants and volunteers. The bowls are to serve as a reminder of the people around the world that are hungry and need help.

“I really enjoy helping the community in this way,” said Butler. “The Longwood students come by the shop all the time to get supplies so it’s fun to do something together.”

The students at Longwood and Mainly Clay have created a variety of unique bowls for this year’s event. According to Paulek, his students have been making these bowls off and on all year going between different projects. Many of the students have also made bowls for this event since their freshman year as they still had the event during COVID-19, only they delivered the bowls instead of hosting an in-person event.

EVENT WILL BENEFIT FACES

All proceeds from this event will go to benefit FACES Food Pantry. The organization partners with FeedMore to buy food at reduced prices which they distribute weekly. According to its website, in 2021 the food pantry served 1,030 households with a weekly average of 880 individuals, 30% being senior citizens.

“We like supporting FACES because people are hungry,” said Paulek. “It’s terribly unfortunate that someone would have to go hungry.”

Folks are encouraged to buy their tickets as soon as possible as there is a limited number and could sell out. To buy tickets, visit tinyurl.com/EmptyBowlsFarmville23. Anyone who is unable to make it to the event or would like to make an additional donation to FACES can do so at facesfoodpantry.com/donate.