Statesboro to sling mud for annual empty bowl project

Marissa Martin

Students and faculty can sling mud and throw pots at the 22nd annual Empty Bowl Project preparation today and tomorrow between 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. to help support the Statesboro Food Bank.

The bowls that are made this week will be sold during the Empty Food Bowl Project on Oct. 18 for $10. This money will buy the bowl with chili inside.

The Empty Bowl Project, a fundraiser adopted by former ceramics professor Jane Pleak, is a national fundraiser that helps support community food banks.

“If you feel strongly about something you want to change, start in your own community,” Jeff Schmuki, professor of ceramics, said.

No experience is necessary to throw pots, but it may be difficult and fun at the same time if you’ve never done it before, Schmuki said.

Every dollar donated to the Statesboro Food Bank provides seven meals and every bowl sold during the Empty Bowl Project provides 70 meals, Schmuki said.

“It’s a fundraiser to bring awareness that hunger doesn’t just occur in other countries or big cities but in the community we live in,” Schmuki said.

Last year’s Empty Bowl Project chili fundraising event raised $3,133 for the food bank in Statesboro.

The same year Georgia Southern College became a university in 1990 was the same year that the Pleak adopted the fundraiser. This year Schmuki, coordinator for the event who replaced Pleak this semester, has organized the sale to take place on next Thursday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. underneath the Rotunda by the Russell Union.

“The Empty Bowl Project provides our students the opportunity to create artwork that will impact the community,” Patricia Carter, chair of the Betty Foy Sanders Department of Art, said.

“Not only will each handcrafted bowl be sold and proceeds given to the Statesboro Food Bank, but patrons will take that bowl home and constantly be reminded of those in need right here in Bulloch County,” Carter said.

Students forget about the community and how a small amount of money can change someone else’s daily routine, Virginia Russell, ceramics student, said.

“We’ve seen the impact the Empty Bowl has on the food bank,” Kimberly Riner, graduate assistant and student, said. “This impacts many people in this community.”