Did you know that 13.1% of the world’s population, about 925 million people, go to bed hungry every single night? Did you know that over 7 million die from hunger each year? That’s 20,000 children every day. Did you know that over 300,000 pregnant women who are deficient of basic nutrients die during childbirth each year? Did you know that world produces enough food to feed the entire population on Earth, yet people go hungry every single day? It’s okay if you didn’t know this. I didn’t either.

But that is what Empty Bowls is all about. Empty Bowls is about creating awareness of world hunger. I am sure we are all familiar with it, but hardly any of us know actually how staggering it is. Almost a billion people are hungry, at this moment, right now. For us Oratory kids, we might say we can sympathize with them at around 11 o’clock right before lunch. Yet, these hungry kids around the world have so much less. They don’t have lunch. They don’t get a snack. They barely eat. They barely live.

Empty Bowls is an international effort to fight hunger around the world. The focus is on both a simple meal and a handcrafted bowl. It’s great to understand and acknowledge the horrors of hunger that exist in our world. But the greater questions is: what do we do about it? Empty Bowls provides an easy answer to this question.

Over the past few months, students have been creating unique ceramic bowls. First, the bowl is thrown on the wheel. After that, it is cut off the wheel and left to try. At the correct moisture, the top is trimmed. Next, the pot is glazed and then finally fired. Overall, this process can take up to two weeks, but at the rate the art room has been producing bowls, it only takes about a few days!

Once all the bowls have been made, they will be counted to see how many people can participate in this service project. About one to two weeks prior to the day of the event, students will sign up to participate. On the actual day of the event, students who have already paid their $10 donation will be given a unique ceramic bowl of soup in place of lunch. In solidarity with those around the world who only have “empty bowls,” students will sacrifice one meal to get a glimpse as to how it feels to be hungry.

The Empty Bowls service project is organized by Anthony Smith and myself, along with the help of many other faculty members: Mrs. Preston, Mrs. Otterbein, Mr. Yoo, and Mrs. Treminio. Anthony and I feel that this service project is going to be a huge success and hopefully we can scale it to be much bigger next year! However, we truly need participants. So, please help this cause and participate in Empty Bowls!