The group of high school students, college students and local residents who gathered Saturday night at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Ithaca had some things in common.

They were all hungry, and they were all dishing out $35 to $50 for the opportunity to get their handmade bowl filled with hot chili and soup at the 11th annual Empty Bowls charity event.

Sarah Priester, the event coordinator, rushed around, organizing volunteers and putting the bowls donated by local artists on display while greeting guests.

“We have a diverse group here tonight,” Priester said.

The nearly 200 attendees poured into the cafeteria of the church to the sounds of a local bluegrass quartet. Hundreds of donated pottery bowls in various shapes, sizes and colors were on display for guests to choose from. A colorful Loaves and Fishes banner read, “Free the oppressed, clothe the naked, welcome the stranger, feed the hungry.”

Empty Bowls raised more than $7,000, which will be used to purchase food for Loaves and Fishes’ soup kitchens. The Ithaca charity serves more than 3,500 free meals each month and provides a hospitable environment for people in need.

The international Empty Bowls project began in 1990 with a mission to create hunger awareness on a local level. At each Empty Bowls event, attendees use their ceramic, terra cotta or stoneware bowls to eat a meal. They then take their bowls home as a reminder of the hunger worldwide.

As the guests looked over the pottery bowls, Deb Youngling, a Spencer-Van Etten Elementary School art teacher and potter, greeted guests.

“Potters come back year after year because this supports a good cause,” Youngling said. “I’ve been coming for five or six years now.”

After eight years of donating his personally handcrafted pottery bowls, local artist Scott Van Gaasbeck of Frog Hill Pottery said this concept is one of the best ways an artist can get involved in community service.

“We artists seem to get hit up to donate [to charity] more than Bill Gates does,” Van Gaasbeck said. “We’re pretty generous and willing to help out, and this is the most successful way for an artist to help out a charity.”

After attendees chose their bowl, they ate food and drank wine donated from dozens of contributors, including the Ithaca Bakery and Gimme! Coffee.

Cornell University senior Hannah Kim is president of the Help Us Stop Hunger club, and was one of the volunteers at the event.

“Empty Bowls takes our local resources and puts them back into the community through Loaves and Fishes,” Kim said. “It integrates the community in a creative way.”

Volunteers, ticket sales and donations were handled by Priester. This year she said the event had the most guests and the most enthusiastic response she has seen since she became involved.

“Tompkins County is considered affluent, but over 10 percent of the people who live here are below the poverty line, not to mention the millions of people in [New York] state who rely on emergency food programs,” Priester said. “Not everyone who comes here is homeless. Not by a long shot. Sometimes they are just looking to share a sense of community.”

The goal of Loaves and Fishes is to welcome those “who are hungry not just for food, but for acceptance and love,” said Clare Grady, part-time kitchen manager.

“The experience of being in prison deepened my compassion for people and my commitment,” Grady said. “What I experienced when I came here was the same work I was doing in prison for people, helping the people who are broken.”

As Grady cleaned the kitchen with other volunteers, she said that by working with Loaves and Fishes, she is gradually getting involved with the community again after her time in prison.

Grady was unable to volunteer at Loaves and Fishes for six months while she served a federal prison term. As one of the “St. Patrick’s Four,” a group of local activists who staged nonviolent protests, she led an anti-war demonstration with three others by pouring blood on the property of a military recruiting center in March 2003.  

In the cafeteria, guests applauded after a short speech given by Marty Blodgett, interim director for Loaves and Fishes. Blodgett thanked all of the guests, potters, volunteers and board members for their generosity.

“This community as a whole wants to feed people and not let people go hungry,” Blodgett said. “We couldn’t do it without all of us together.”

Van Gaasbeck said the structure of the event shows affluent community members how Loaves and Fishes functions as a soup kitchen. Empty Bowls also provides an opportunity for local businesses and artists to be recognized for their contributions.

“I have donated bowls to charity auctions before,” Van Gaasbeck said. “I like [Empty Bowls] because it’s a more creative way to approach fundraising.”

As the dinner came to a close, guests cleaned their bowls to take them home. Priester said she was encouraged by the group of people eager to support the charity.

“Besides a really good piece of pottery, I’m hoping everyone feels ... aware of what we’re doing down here and how important it is,” Priester said. “And in that awareness, realize all of us should be committed to helping not only the economically disadvantaged but all the people in the community who need a helping hand or a listening ear.”