REQUEST

This years Empty Bowls Evansville event is projected to raise $10,000. Empty Bowls
Evansville requests a matching donation to support our 2015 main recipient, ECHO Housing
Corporation.

MISSION
Empty Bowls goal is to raise money for local non-profit organizations in order to end hunger.

HISTORY
Empty Bowls was founded in 1990 in Michigan, by artist Lisa Blackburn and art teacher John
Hartom. Hartoms students made ceramic bowls in their high school art classes and their finished
products were used as serving pieces for a fund-raising meal of soup and bread for non-for profit
organizations. With the success of the first fundraiser, this concept was expanded upon and
developed into Empty Bowls.
Since these high school art classes, Empty Bowls has become an international event. It has
helped people in all 50 states of the United States of America and at least 14 different countries
as well, raising millions of dollars worldwide. Even with the amount of expansion Empty Bowls
has witnessed over the last two and a half decades, Empty Bowls projects are still being started
in numerous locations to this day.
Empty Bowls Evansville is a branch of this project and it was founded January 1 st, 2012 by Alisa
Al Holen, USI Assistant Professor of Ceramics, and has grown exponentially since its
founding. In 2012, Empty Bowls Evansville raised $6,000 for United Caring Services and
Tristate Food Bank. In 2013, $8,000 was raised for United Caring Services. In 2014 $10,400 was
raised for United Caring Services and Aurora. The amount of volunteerism has also increased
significantly throughout the years. In 2015, there was an estimated 225 volunteers from different
groups such as, City of Evansville, Girl Scout troop 309, University of Southern Indiana groups
such as the Ceramics class, womens basketball team, and faculty/staff, and local restaurants
such as Sauced and Kirbys. This years event will be held at Kirbys which has enough space to
fit 750 people.

NEED
One in seven people in Vanderburgh County suffer from hunger. Empty Bowls Evansville raises
awareness for hunger and also brings together the entire community through the arts in order to fight
this epidemic. It is also the only non-profit organization that provides other non-profit organizations

monetary donations directed exclusively towards hunger prevention in an artistic, educational, and
beneficial way. This year, it is projected that an upwards of $12,000 dollars will be raised and
$10,000 dollars will go to ECHO Housing Corporation, while the rest of the money will be split
between United Caring Services and Patchwork Central.
ECHO Housing Corporation has multiple programs which benefit the community. They have
four Housing First programs consisting of 83 units (chronically homeless clients receive a
housing subsidy along with supportive services delivered by a Case Manager trained specifically
in working with the homeless). Their Homeless Veteran Reintegration Program serves Veterans
who are experiencing situational homelessness and would benefit from being connected to
employment-focused services, with assistance locating employment and transitional housing
while they work toward self-sustainability and permanent housing. And, they have an Early
Childhood Development Class for children enrolled in their homeless programs aged 3-5, which
is delivered by a Masters level educator on-site daily.

PROJECT/PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
Starting in August, USI ceramics professor Al Holen invites previously scheduled groups into
the ceramics studio to learn how to throw bowls on the potters wheel. For the next several
months, roughly 13 groups such as, local High school students, college students, individuals, and
various groups and organizations from the community, will come through the studio, and with
the help of Als ceramics students in their service learning courses, over 1,250 bowls will be
made. Around 25% of these bowls are lost in the kiln firing through cracking or breaking so the
goal of 1,000 bowls still applies. As a new feature of Empty Bowls Evansville, professional
artists will be participating in creating professional bowls which will be sold in the Pro-Bowl
room at a higher price at the event in order to raise even more money for Echo, United Caring
Services, and Patchwork.
After the bowls are thrown, Al organizes students and volunteers to trim the bottoms of the
bowls, glaze, and fire them. Each bowl takes roughly one and a half weeks to complete the glaze
and kiln process.
In November, the bowls are taken to Kirbys, a local private dining and event space, where they
are set up for display. At the day of the Empty Bowls Evansville event, over 750 people will
attend and buy the bowls for $10 each. When the bowls are purchased at the Empty Bowls event,
the buyer also receives a bowl of soup and bread which is provided by local individuals and
multiple local restaurants such as, Azzip Pizza, Kirbys, Sauced, and Woodbine. The total sum
raised at the event is donated to a local non-profit organization striving to end hunger.

OBJECTIVES/OUTCOMES

Empty Bowls Evansville has made 1,000 bowls and at $10 each projects to raise $10,000. This
$10,000 will go directly towards Echo Housing Corporation and if additional funds are raised by
the sale of special bowls from the Pro-Bowl room then that will be split evenly between United
Caring Services and Patchwork Central.
The result of this money is going to positively affect the Vanderburgh community through
ECHO by being used towards creating a food bank for the homeless Veterans that ECHO is
currently housing. One of Empty Bowls objectives is to bring the community together through
the arts and to raise awareness about hunger in our community that non-profits selflessly aim to
fix. Empty Bowls Evansville hopes to continue to grow and help support local non-profit
organizations end hunger in the Vanderburgh County area.

CONCLUSION
Empty Bowls Evansville has multiple organizations and members of the community volunteer in
making this event happen for the past four years. It raises money for some highly beneficial nonprofits which need extra funding to increase their capabilities in Vanderburgh County. ECHO is
one of these non-profits and it is in great need of a food bank for all of the homeless Veterans
that they are sheltering in order to rehabilitate/provide for the people who have fought for our
country. Thank you for your time in reading this proposal, the community will greatly benefit
from any donation that goes towards ECHO Housing Corporation.