Tell City Empty Bowls fundraiser supports local food pantries

A $20 dinner at Tell City High School turned student-made bowls into direct food support Friday, April 24, as Empty Bowls sent all proceeds to local food pantries. The fundraiser ran from 5 to 7 p.m. and gave each guest a handcrafted bowl made by a TCJSHS student to keep.

Culinary students planned, prepared and served soup, salad and bread for the event, adding another layer of student work to the night. Bake-sale items were also needed, and the school’s message was simple: come for dinner, take home a bowl and help families in Perry County by putting money directly into pantry support.

That direct line to local hunger relief matters in a county where pantry demand can shift quickly. Perry County Community Foundation awarded Tell City Jr.-Sr. High School a $2,150 grant for an Empty Bowls project meant to raise awareness and donate to local food pantries, showing the event has become more than a one-night fundraiser. It has also become part of the county’s broader response to food insecurity, including the work of places such as Widows Barrel Food Pantry and Cannelton Food Pantry.

The need behind the fundraiser is sizable. Feeding America says Indiana had 1,033,890 people facing hunger, including 292,720 children, and that rural counties are hit disproportionately hard by severe food insecurity. In Perry County, where pantry shelves can feel the impact of rising food costs and uneven household budgets, that statewide picture lands close to home.

Empty Bowls is an international project built around the same idea Tell City put on display Friday: artists and community members create bowls, then use the event to raise money for soup kitchens, food banks and other anti-hunger organizations. The project says it has raised millions of dollars worldwide, but each local event stands on its own, with its own students, donors and pantry needs.

At Tell City Jr.-Sr. High School, the bowls carried a practical job. They helped turn a meal, a student-made keepsake and a $20 ticket into support for the local food pantries that keep Perry County families fed.