BELLOWS FALLS — Tickets are now on sale for the 18th annual Empty Bowl dinner and auctions Sunday, Nov. 1, at Alyson's Orchard in Walpole, N.H., to benefit the food programs of Our Place Drop-in Center.
The event gets under way at 5 p.m., and includes a soup supper featuring signature soups from local restaurants and chefs, and silent and live auctions, with auctioneer David Howell.
Tickets are $35 each and are on sale at Village Square Booksellers in Bellows Falls, Galloway Real Estate in Walpole, or at Our Place. A table for eight can be reserved for $400.
Volunteers are now collecting bowls and auction items for the event.
Potters who have already pledged bowls include Malcolm Wright, Natalie Blake, Virginia Wyoming, Claudia Teachman, Susan Dunning, Dawn-Marie Gehrung, Melissa Clark, Jean Meinhardt, Miranda Thomas, and Mary Hepburn and her Vermont Academy pottery students.
With the theme of “Gather and Share,” the event begins with an auction preview and social hour. A highlight of the event is each attendee's selection of one of the handmade bowls to take home as a reminder of those who struggle to put food on the family table.
Proceeds of the dinner go towards supporting the food programs of Our Place, which include a food pantry, a daily breakfast and lunch, and nutrition education.
“This is our most important fundraiser of the year,” said OP director Lisa Pitcher. “We are very grateful for the donations of bowls, auction items and food that make it possible.”
Soups, bread, salad, and appetizers for the supper are donated by area restaurants and schools and are served by students from New England Kurn Hattin Homes.
Major sponsors are L.A. Burdick Chocolates, Morrison & Tyson Communications, Robinson Sales, and Whitney Blake Co. Also sponsoring are Silver Forest of Vermont, Lane Cold River Materials, Savings Bank of Walpole, and Sheila and Charlie Lennon.
Other supporters are Wunderle's Big Top Adventures, Clark-Mortenson Insurance, James Plumbing & Heating, Dr. Timothy Johnson Eye Care, Westminster Auto, Whelen Engineering, Vermont Academy, and Dave and Andrea Johnson.
The oldest such event in the area, the Our Place Empty Bowl is part of an international effort that began in 1990 to raise money for food programs. What started as a local effort in a Michigan high school has grown into a worldwide program that has raised more than a million dollars to help fight hunger.