MANNA FoodBank features Empty Bowls for Hunger Action Month

September is Hunger Action Month and MANNA FoodBank has a calendar brimming with events and ideas to raise awareness and resources for WNC’s population experiencing food insecurity. MANNA is hosting the 11^th annual Empty Bowls lunch and dinner on September 24, 2012, as an opportunity to support MANNA FoodBank as well as walking away with a locally handcrafted bowl.

The Empty Bowls Lunch will take place from 11:00 a.m.-1:30 p.m. (drop-in) at the Doubletree Biltmore Hotel in Asheville (115 Hendersonville Road, in Biltmore Village); tickets for lunch are $25.  A dinner will also take place at the Biltmore Park Hilton in Asheville (43 Town Square Blvd., in Biltmore Park). The dinner is a family friendly event, tickets are $30 and kids under 12 eat free. All funds raised directly support MANNA FoodBank.

All lunch attendees receive a handmade bowl of their choice – and the bowl choices will be renewed throughout the day no matter what time guests arrive. Local artists include:  Tisha Cook, Barbara Gerber,Denise Baker, Paul Frehe, Gabriel Kline, David Voorhees, and Lori Theriault.

Several items will be featured in the “Collector’s Corner” and offered at a fair market price from well-known local artists.

Soups sponsors for the two events include: Carmels, Corner Kitchen, Chestnut, Cucina 24, Deerfields, Destinations, GO Kitchen Ready, Harrah’s, Lexington Avenue Brewery, Luella’s 12 Bones,  and Roux. 

Bread and sweet confections will be provided by: Annie’s Bakery, City Bakery, Brixx, The Biltmore Estate, French Broad Chocolate Lounge, GO Kitchen Ready, and Mosaic Café.

Additionally, live music will be provided during lunch by the Mark Guest Trio and during dinner by the Alarm Clock Conspiracy Duo.

The co-founder of the Empty Bowls project, John Hartom, will be in attendance at the event. John Hartom and Lisa Blackburn started the Empty Bowls project 22 years ago and it has since expanded into an international grassroots effort that has raised millions of dollars to help end hunger.

Always a local community effort, this year’s sponsors include:

Harrah’s Cherokee Casino & Hotel

Highwater Clays

Biltmore Farms Hotels

Clear Channel

Mission Hospitals

CarePartners Foundation

Lamar Advertising

Pepsi Cola Bottling Co

Arden Dental Group

Blue Ridge Orthodontics

New Belgium Brewing

TD Bank

ALSCO

Tickets are on sale now and going fast.  For more information, or to purchase tickets, call MANNA FoodBank at (828) 299-3663 or purchase tickets online at mannfoodbank.org.

The Empty Bowls event on the 24^th is a featured event of Hunger Action Month. MANNA FoodBank has an entire month of events and suggestions (calendar follows) for how to help end hunger and raise awareness in Western North Carolina.

Also on display during the event-

The Paper Plate Campaign is another way MANNA FoodBank supporters can raise awareness. Food recipients and supporters decorate paper plates to express what hunger does to them and their community. The resulting collection of plates will be mailed to lawmakers in Raleigh and Washington D.C. at the end of the month.