Van Buren High School students' art raises money for Community Services Clearinghouse
Art feeds the soul, and artwork created by local students helps to feed the body, too.
Students at Van Buren High School are selling handmade ceramic bowls to raise money for Community Services Clearinghouse, located at 4420 Wheeler Ave. in Fort Smith.
The Empty Bowls fundraiser benefits the Meals for Kids Backpack Program, which serves students in 142 schools in western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma.
The art created by students represents “what we do here – we feed people,” said Aubry Severe, office manager for the Community Services Clearinghouse. “Every bowl that you buy is helping feed somebody.”
Starting Feb. 1, the Empty Bowls fundraiser released its first set of bowls for purchase on Facebook. The last set of new releases will be posted Feb. 28.
By students for students
Van Buren High School has organized the fundraiser for 13 years. Kara Holland, an art teacher at Van Buren High School, took over the event in its second year when she joined the school staff.
“The students are always so surprised that people want their bowls,” Holland said. “Especially for people that don’t do ceramics, they’re amazed that teenagers can make these functional bowls.
“[The bowls] are so beautiful,” she said. “The students tend to see their flaws, but the people that buy them tend to see the beauty in their artwork. It’s a good self-esteem booster for the kids.
“A lot of students are really generous with their time and their art, and they are really moved by the fact that they are helping other young people in their schools, and they make a lot of bowls,” Holland said.
Art students, Art Club members, students in the school’s enrichment program and community members create around 100 to 150 bowls each year.
The local fundraiser is a part of an international movement of artisans fighting hunger under the Empty Bowls mission.
“Pretty much anyone that a ceramics program, studio or classes … anybody that has access to make ceramic bowls can have a charity event where they sell bowls and call it Empty Bowls,” Holland said, “as long as the money raised goes to help with food insecurity in their area or in the community somehow.”
In previous years, the high school hosted Empty Bowls as an in-person event, where community members would receive a soup dinner in their purchased bowl. The art students would then wash the bowls and return them to the buyers.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Empty Bowls has been held as an online sale for the past two years.
“There’s been a great reception,” Holland said. “We still made around the same amount of money last year as we have done in the past online, so that was good … We really hope to get to that community dinner at some point.”
In 2021, the fundraiser donated $1,813 to the Community Services Clearinghouse. The fundraiser raises $1,000 to $3,000 for the backpack program annually.
How to purchase a bowl
Individuals interested in purchasing a bowl can visit the Friends of Empty Bowls and VBHS Art Dept. Facebook group.
Prices range from $7 to $15 for individual bowls, including both food-safe and non-food-safe bowls. There are also discounted bowls with two for $7.
This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Van Buren High School art students tackle hunger with Empty Bowls
