Empty Bowls Fundraiser
Join us for our Empty Bowls Fundraiser on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, at the Walterboro Wildlife Center, 100 S. Jefferies Blvd. Guests can attend Lunch from 11 AM – 2 PM or Dinner from 5 – 8 PM. Enjoy a simple meal of homemade soup and bread, served in a handcrafted bowl you can take home as a reminder of those who are hungry. Empty Bowls is our major fall fundraiser, and every ticket, sponsorship, and volunteer hour directly supports meals, hygiene items, and case management services for neighbors in need.
Online Tickets available here
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Together, we can fill empty bowls and hearts.
“Empty Bowls” is an international project to fight hunger, personalized by artists and art organizations on a community level. The core purpose of Empty Bowls is to raise funds for local food charities and educate people about issues of poverty and hunger in their community.
Empty Bowls started in the early 1990s when Lisa Blackburn and John Hartom decided to do something to counteract the negative news about hunger and poverty in their town in Michigan. John, a high-school ceramics teacher, challenged his students to throw 120 bowls which they used at the first Empty Bowls luncheon held at the school, charging $5 per bowl to raise funds to fight hunger. The event was a success and right away people began duplicating it all over the country and, eventually, all over the world.
Thirty years later, empty bowls are filled all around the world to help fight hunger. “It's not a lack of food, the problem is food distribution.” – John Hartom