Bidding on empty bowls symbolic of hunger issue

People milled about folding tables, picking up clay bowls, scrutinizing them and then… People milled about folding tables, picking up clay bowls, scrutinizing them and then putting them back down.

Some bowls were clearly made by professionals, with the rims perfectly round and the basins even, while others were slightly lopsided or bumpy around the edges.

Some people chose to look for specific colors in the bowls, while others looked for uniqueness in shape, such as one bowl with sides designed to resemble flower petals and a yellow circle painted in the bottom.

A diverse crowd of college students, families and senior citizens had gathered for the ninth annual Empty Bowls Dinner, a fundraising event for Just Harvest, an organization that fights to end hunger, and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.

Each ticket, costing $18 in advance and $20 at the door, could be exchanged for one of hundreds of clay bowls in “every size, shape, and color,” said Ken Regal, co-director of Just Harvest.

Local high school and college students, community groups, and professional potters donated the bowls.

“You bring home your bowl as a symbol of those whose bowls are empty,” Regal said.

One man made his way through the crowd with the aid of his seeing-eye dog. Once he had approached a table, he picked up a greenish bowl and skimmed his fingers over the bumpy sides before setting the bowl back down.

Several other tables were set up on the side, displaying bowls available for silent auction. The bowls ranged in estimated market value from $15 all the way to $300.

“If I get it, I get it. If I don’t, I don’t,” one woman could be heard saying as her female companion told her she should have bid more for a bowl.

But the attendees could not take all day to choose. The tempting smell of hearty soup wafted through the air, beckoning them toward the soup line in the adjacent room.

Not only were they given a clay bowl in exchange for their entry fees, but also a seemingly endless supply (250 gallons, to be exact) of soup.

More than 20 folding tables were arranged in rows throughout the room, adorned with paper-bag centerpieces and red, green, yellow, pink, orange and blue balloons.

Throughout the four-hour event, the types of soup were rotated so that attendees could choose from 6 different varieties at any one time, including chicken noodle, wedding and mushroom-barley soups.

As the adults stood in line, trays in hand, the children opted to seek out the entertainment.

In a corner of the room, Mike “The Balloon Guy” Evans twisted a blue balloon into a mini sword for an onlooking little boy.

“Oh, yeah,” the boy shouted as he thrust the sword toward an older girl, who fended him off with her own sword.

After they tired of the play, the girl rolled up one of the sleeves of her blue T-shirt and waited in line to get an airbrushed tattoo.

And as the attendees left the event, the smell of freshly baked treats replaced that of soup, as volunteers tempted people with a small bake sale to satisfy any hunger that was unmet by the soup and rolls.