Empty Bowls Project a success

[Bill Boehme]

My wife and I attended the local Tarrant Area Food Bank's Empty Bowls Project today and it appears to have been very successful. Our club has made a serious effort to increase participation in this worthwhile project and we will be getting a report on how well things went hopefully before our monthly meeting next week. In past years, turned wooden bowls were a very small fraction of the total number of bowls, but this year it looks like we were well represented. The great majority of bowls are still pottery, but participation by woodturners is increasing. We have been informed by the food bank that the wooden bowls are the most popular and are grabbed up quickly.

Here is a shot from last year's event.



... and a local channel 4 TV news video, but they only mention potters in the story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYjDjXSzvlc

One lady had a large stack of wooden bowls that she was buying in addition to the one "free" thank-you gift for attending. I also talked to several people who were curious about wooden bowls (there was one that had "interesting" black lines so I had an opportunity to talk about spalting}.

Something interesting is that one area had bowls that were categorized as "Gallery" bowls" which were priced from $50 to $125 over the cost of "Studio"
bowls (which were one free or $25 for additional bowls). From what I saw, size appeared to be the only thing that was used to decide in which category the bowls belonged. OK, so next year I'm going for big bowls since people seemed to be going for those.

There was also a couple silent auction areas and a celebrity bowl area, but the celebrity bowls were actually all platters and none were wooden bowels/platters.

I spotted three of my bowls there and bought one of my own bowls.

 

[robo hippy]

We asked our local Empty Bowls group if they wanted wood bowls for the auction. They were very enthusiastic. Now, some 8 or so years later, they are in demand. We try to get a bowl turning demo the month before the bowls are to be taken in, which gets us a higher number to donate. Great cause, and a great club challenge.

robo hippy

 

[hockenbery]

Great event! Nice video!
The AAW has an empty bowls section every year and has added a beads of courage section.
These are all wooden bowls and boxes

The AAW chapters received a challenge last week to consider sending a at least 10 bowls to Pittsburgh. I hope to take 10 bowls myself.

Sherry and I got inspired by the beads of courage boxes we saw at SWAT.
We are working on a few for Pittsburgh. The SWAT table for beads of courage we're the highlight of the instant gallery. Incredible work, so many designs, so many themes. We will do some individually and some collaboratively.

In Tampa we had a bragging rights challenge between the Jacksonville and Tampa club on who would bring the most bowls for empty bowls.
The empty bowls folks set up club areas. Jacksonville won. But they were gracious winners and their president bought one of my bowls.
Just a cool way to do something positive.

If you are coming to Pittsburgh, bring some bowls, collect them for your club and bring them all.
If you can't come you can send a box of bowls to Pittsburgh.

Al

 

[Mark Hepburn]

Great event! Nice video!
The AAW has an empty bowls section every year and has added a beads of courage section.
These are all wooden bowls and boxes

The AAW chapters received a challenge last week to consider sending a at least 10 bowls to Pittsburgh. I hope to take 10 bowls myself.

Sherry and I got inspired by the beads of courage boxes we saw at SWAT.
We are working on a few for Pittsburgh. The SWAT table for beads of courage we're the highlight of the instant gallery. Incredible work, so many designs, so many themes. We will do some individually and some collaboratively.

In Tampa we had a bragging rights challenge between the Jacksonville and Tampa club on who would bring the most bowls for empty bowls.
The empty bowls folks set up club areas. Jacksonville won. But they were gracious winners and their president bought one of my bowls.
Just a cool way to do something positive.

If you are coming to Pittsburgh, bring some bowls, collect them for your club and bring them all.
If you can't come you can send a box of bowls to Pittsburgh.

Al

I'm not in a chapter (closest one is 100+ miles away) but plan on bringing some bowls too. I think it's one of the many, many ways we as human beings can help those in need. I didn't bring any, but bought several at the AZ symposium last year (my first symposium) and got hooked. Since I began turning in mid - 2013 a whole new world has opened before my eyes and it's been a fantastic experience.

I know it's a bit off topic here, and as usual I'm sort of hijacking a thread, but I hope those of you who participate by offering your time, expertise, and donations find true satisfaction and peace through your efforts. You all deserve it and I find that I'm humbled not only by the vast expertise on this forum, but the generosity and kindness of its members.

[End.Soapbox]

 

[Steve Worcester]

The Dallas event comes up next month. While the clubs participation isn't what we would like it to be, we did do 322 bowls (over 100 members). I sponsor the event a bit and the club also encourages by giving out prizes for participation.