CORBIN — Special to The Times-Tribune

Hunger in Knox County is real. So are empty pockets, empty cupboards and empty bowls.

In an effort to bring the community together to fight the growing hunger epidemic in Knox County, Kentucky Harvest Southeast is asking the community to help fill some empty bowls and become part of the Empty Bowl Project.

Kentucky Harvest Southeast is looking for businesses, churches, schools and civic organizations willing to sponsor unpainted bowls at a cost of $14 each. These entities can sponsor as many or as few bowls as they like. Teresa Pope, Knox County potter at KCEOC Community Crafts, will make the bowls but leave them unpainted and undecorated. Community members will then be asked to come to KCEOC and paint a bowl, or more if they like. Once the bowls are painted, decorated, dried and glazed, they will be taken to the Knox County Courthouse for Knox County’s first Empty Bowl event.

On Thursday, April 29 and Friday, April 30 from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., a soup line will be set up in front of the Knox County Courthouse. Community members are encouraged to come downtown and buy one of these hand-made, hand-painted original bowls for $20 and eat lunch or dinner, or both. The ladies who work at Christian Life Food Pantry in Barbourville will be working on soup recipes to fill the bowls.

Businesses, churches, schools, civic groups and organizations which sponsor bowls for the Empty Bowl Project will have their logo or name printed on the Empty Bowl banner, which will be displayed in front of the Knox County Courthouse for one full week leading up to the event. These entities will also be given one bowl to decorate with their logo or name to take back and display year after year as a charter Empty Bowl supporter.

Kentucky Harvest Southeast Board members are excited to bring this project to Knox County. A three-fold purpose will help the food-raising group attack hunger in Knox County on many fronts.

“The empty bowl project gives us all an opportunity as a community to take a couple of days out of our busy lives and think about the hunger that surrounds us,” said board member Melissa Newman. “Involving our area children in the process with painting and decorating the bowls gives them a chance to learn about our hunger problem as well. It brings us together to sit down and have a bowl of soup and start some dialogue about how many more ways we can all help the hungry in Knox County.”

The Empty Bowl Project concept is nothing new; Lexington and Cynthiana already have annual programs in place. There are also projects going on all over the nation with Empty Bowls as the theme. Kentucky Harvest Southeast Board members are anxious to get Knox County on board with this project as just one more facet of their food-raising goals.

“Projects like these are exactly what we need to get the community to join us in fighting hunger here in Knox County,” said Kentucky Harvest Southeast Board Chairman, Darren K. West. “These bowls will not only help us raise funds to buy food, they will also serve as a reminder all year long that there are hungry people out there. It is my hope that after several years of this event, every office, school, church and group will have an Empty Bowl on display – maybe several of them.”

If your business, church, school, civic group or organization would like to sponsor bowls, call Darren K. West at 606-627-0983 or Melissa Newman at 606-627-2601.

All proceeds from the sale of bowls and soup will be donated to Kentucky Harvest Southeast to purchase food for Christian Life Food Pantry.

To learn more about the nationwide Empty Bowl Project or to find out what other areas are involved in the project, go to www.emptybowls.net. To learn more about KY Harvest Southeast, please go to www.kyharvestsoutheast.org.

If your business, school, church, civic group or organization would like to paint bowls for the Empty Bowl Project (at no cost), please call 606-546-3152 to reserve a spot or spots at one of the following painting, decorating/sessions at KCEOC:

• March 22 9:30-11:00 a.m., 12:00-1:30 p.m.

• March 23 4:00-5:30 p.m., 6:00-7:30 p.m.

• March 24 9:30-11:00 a.m., 12-1:30 p.m., 2:00-3:30 p.m.

• March 25 12:00-1:30 p.m., 5:00-6:30 p.m.

• March 26 9:30-11:00 a.m., 12:00-1:30 p.m.

(All supplies, including paints brushes, etc. will be available.)