Art project used to raise hunger awareness

South Cape Girardeau resident Louise Duncan likes to have fun, but she also likes to help other people. For the organizers of the Empty Bowls project, she's a perfect fit.

"I think it's great," Duncan said. "That's the way I grew up all my life -- you're supposed to help other people."

Duncan was one of about a dozen south Cape Girardeau residents who participated in a clay bowl-making class Thursday afternoon at the Cape Area Family Resource Center. Two classes, one for seniors and one for children, were held to get neighborhood residents involved in the Empty Bowls project.

Empty Bowls is a nationwide campaign to raise funds and awareness to fight poverty and hunger. Community members make clay bowls that will be used to hold soup at a fund-raising dinner to be held in November.

Members of the local River's Edge Pottery Guild teamed with the family resource center earlier this year to get the project going and raise funds for local food pantries and the Salvation Army.

Prior to the classes, 140 bowls had been made with organizers only needing 200 to have a successful fund-raiser, said potter Pam Duncan.

Artistic aspect

Duncan said the success has to do with the project's mission, but also its artistic aspect.

"It just brings out the kid in you when you play with that clay," said Duncan said.

Louise Duncan had some doubts when she heard the Cape Area Family Resource Center wanted to have a class on pottery making, but gave it a shot anyway.

"I'll try anything once," she said Thursday afternoon as she put the finishing touches on her own bowl. "It's fun. It's a lot more fun than I thought it would be."

Six potters volunteered their services to teach their pupils how to make the bowls in two sessions lasting two hours Thursday afternoon. Class participants will come back for more sessions to fire and glaze their bowls.

Denise Lincoln said it was important for the population served by the resource center -- a not-for-profit organization that seeks to improve life for south Cape Girardeau residents -- to be involved in the project.

"When I came out here to work with the south Cape community I found a lot of very creative and resourceful people who didn't have much exposure to art," Lincoln said.

Many of those people don't have the time and money for artistic pursuits, Lincoln said. Many of them are also people who have used food pantries or have relatives who have, she said.

This is their way to give back to the community, she said.

For more information on the Empty Bowls dinner or tickets, call Lincoln at 334-8170.

msanders@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 182