This time every fall on Georgia Southern University’s campus students have the opportunity take part in a project that gets them a hand-made decorative bowl filled with chili, while helping rid Statesboro of hunger.

The first phase of the event begins tomorrow from 2:30-5:00 p.m., as the Department of Ceramics will be open for all interested in making ceramic bowls for the Empty Bowl Project.

The second part of the event is the sale of the bowls on Thursday, Oct. 17 at the rotunda. The Statesboro Food Bank organizes the Empty Bowl Project every October. This project is for the people of Statesboro that are in need of a good meal and are not able to provide it for themselves. One bowl sold for $10 at the event will equal up to 70 meals for those in need.

This event allows people in the community to come to the GSU campus, look through a selection of handcrafted bowls, pick their favorite and have that bowl filled with chili provided by Eagle Dinning Services.

“We invite the public and those who have some throwing experience to come make bowls, we supply the clay and tools, and we have people to show you pointers. The goal is to produce more bowls so we can sell more,” Jeff Schmuki, co-organizer of the Empty Bowl Project and ceramics and sculpture professor at GSU, said.

Ultimately, the more the merrier. Not only is it a great time, but also it will be benefitting the people of Statesboro looking for a little extra help, Schmuki said.

“Come get messy. People just come in, have fun and make a bowl or two or five or nine or eleven, every bowl counts,” Kenny Olowoyo, outreach assistant at Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art and senior apparel design and 2D studio art major, said.

“The more bowls we have the more variety of bowls we can sell to people with different tastes,” Olowoyo said.

This event is held during Social Justice Week on GSU’s campus. It is a week dedicated to raising awareness of social issues such as hunger, homelessness, sustainability, human trafficking, education and poverty.

Cinnamon Dowd, outreach coordinator at GSU, said, “Last year we took up the entire rotunda area. We always seem to do better than we did the year prior, so the goal is always to raise more money for the cause.”