Food Bank of NELA teams up with LA Tech and artists for upcoming fundraiser

RUSTON, La. (KNOE) - The Food Bank of Northeast Louisiana teamed up with Louisiana Tech University and local artists to make handmade bowls Wednesday morning.

The partnership is for the food bank’s upcoming fundraiser, ‘Empty Bowls.’ The handmade bowls will be sold at the event, and it’s a way for the organization to raise money to serve more people in the community. The bowls are a reminder to the community of how many people go without food in the region.

“We have about a dozen potters who are generously coming out today, donating their time and their skills to make bowls,” says Director of Development Sarah Hoffman of Food Bank of NELA.

Tori Sinclaire, a senior at LA Tech, says she started pottery three years ago, and Wednesday was her first time making bowls for the food bank.

Students and pottery makers from around the region helped out with creating the bowls in the school of design’s workshop building located on the school’s south campus. Assistant Professor Brooke Cassady at LA Tech says getting together to make bowls for the food bank is an opportunity to build a strong community of potters in the region.

“I think a lot of us - we tend to work in our own little individual studios and we don’t really know who the other artists and potters are in the community,” says Cassady.

The Food Bank of NELA is hoping to collect up to 400 handmade bowls from artists around the region for their ‘Empty Bowls’ fundraiser happening April 22, 2023, at the Monroe Civic Center. Hoffman says handmade bowls must be purchased in advanced.

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