As the weather turns dreary here in northern Minnesota, thoughts turn to warm meals and cozy evenings. Unfortunately, not all families have such luxury. There are more than 75 families using the local food shelf, a number that has grown exponentially in the past couple of years. For this reason, annually, the Grand Marais Art Colony hosts Empty Bowls, a local hunger awareness campaign and fundraiser Dinner for the Cook County Food Shelf. Last year's Empty Bowls Dinner raised $2,500 for the Food Shelf.

Empty Bowls is a collaborative community event that gathers together artists, school kids, community members and businesses to create a simple dinner fundraiser of entirely donated materials (soups, bread, beverages and handmade ceramic bowls).

The Art Colony hosts numerous events to prepare for this dinner, including Make-a-Bowl events, which gathers people, adults and children, to create ceramic soup bowls. Local restaurants and grocery stores donate delicious soups and bread for the dinner. For a $10 donation, dinner guests choose their favorite bowl and enjoy a simple dinner of soup and bread with their fellow community members. All proceeds from the dinner goes to the Food Shelf.

Empty Bowls Events simultaneously addresses the critical problem of hunger in our community and the decreased opportunities available for access to art, to both children and adults. The Make-a-Bowl events that lead up to the dinner provides the opportunity to participate in the creative process of working with clay to create art as a gift to help others. It also enhances community collaboration and cohesiveness by drawing together a variety of people to address the crucial problem of hunger in our community.

In addition to bowl making, students participate in discussions about hunger and nutrition, a Stone Soup garden was created by kid gardeners to produce ingredients for their donation soup, and younger students will create a mural about hunger issues that will be on display at the Dinner.

This is an incredible, unifying event that demonstrates what a community can do when it comes together to nurture each other. This year's event was supported by a grant from the Cook County Community Foundation. However, the intent of the grant is to give the Art Colony a base to build from so that we can perpetuate the event ourselves in future years. Please help us continue this important community annual fundraiser.

Join us for the Empty Bowls Dinner, Thurs, Nov. 12th from 5-7 PM at the Congregational Church in Grand Marais.

To support Empty Bowls 2010, attend our Empty Bowls Silent Auction which features artisan-made bowls of a variety of mediums. Opens Sat, Nov. 7 from 5-7 PM at the Art Colony and continues daily 10AM-4PM. Closes at 7PM sharp on Thurs, Nov. 12 at the Empty Bowls Dinner.

We hope to see you there!