The OSU Mount Leadership Society is teaming up with Columbus Recreation and Parks by lending a hand and about 400 handmade bowls to fight hunger.
The student organization, consisting mostly of first-year Honors Program students, will sell handmade bowls from 2 to 6 p.m. today at the Royer Activity Center on North Campus. The Empty Bowls event benefits the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. Bowls sell for $10 and come with complimentary homemade soup.
Katie D’Angelo, a second-year in pre-nursing and a service committee co-chair, said the society has been organizing Empty Bowls events since 2003 and considers them a great way to get first-years involved. The members made the bowls, which range in style, color and size, while on campus Sept. 16.
“As a first-year at Ohio State, it’s harder to get involved with something you believe in, but (Mount Leadership Society) just pushes you into that kind of role,” said Kory Munk, a first-year in health sciences and a society member. “Being able to know that you’re helping someone is a great feeling.”
University Dining Services will provide the ingredients and kitchen space for preparing the soup, D’Angelo said. It is also donating dinner rolls.
Whetstone Community Center, a Columbus Recreation and Parks facility, provided the materials and tools needed to make the clay bowls, which the City of Columbus financed, said Connie Terry, Whetstone assistant manager.
The community center became involved with the program about 10 years ago and has aided about 20 organizations through Empty Bowls events in the last year, she said.
“We are working for our community,” Terry said.
During the last 12 months, the Mid-Ohio Food Bank donated about 36 million pounds of food throughout the 530 agencies and 20 counties it serves, said Colin Baumgartner, director of marketing and communication at the food bank.
The event comes at a great time, he said. The food bank is always in need of donations, but especially around the holidays. Regularly, about 51,000 meals are donated per day.
The recession has also added to the food bank’s need, which has increased by 44 percent the last five years, Baumgartner said.
Every dollar donated to the bank buys about $8 of food because the organization buys in bulk, he said.
Mount Leadership Society has prepared about 400 bowls for the event, and its goal is to raise $3,500 for the food bank. Last year, the group raised $3,300, D’Angelo said. If it reaches its goal this year, the food bank can buy about $28,000 worth of food.
“It’s amazing to know for me that I’m making a difference in people’s lives,” D’Angelo added. “It’s fun, it’s not really work. And we’re going to be helping so many people.”
