The National Honor Society (NHS) is planning to host an Empty Bowls event to fundraise money for Westford’s Cameron Senior Center, on Wednesday March 7th 2024, from 5-7 p.m at the WA cafeteria.
Inspired by the many Empty Bowls fundraising events that have popped up in the country since 1990, NHS is carrying on with their own tradition of the event, which includes selling handmade bowls, raffle tickets, and soup. All the proceeds from the event will go straight to the senior center, which also has a food pantry for all members of the Westford community. The tickets for the Empty Bowls event will cost $5.
“We continue this fundraiser every year because we like to support the senior center and it offers the opportunity to our members to showcase their community service and artistic talents to the entire membership and community,” senior NHS president Mitali Deshmukh said.
Throughout the fall, NHS members have all created bowls to sell at the event. By working in the ceramics classroom sculpting and glazing the bowls after school the club has managed to create 50 bowls which will all be sold at the event.
In addition to selling the artwork, the event has three major activities; musician performances, presentations given by NHS members that explain what service opportunities they’ve been a part of and how to get involved, and raffle prizes.
“The music is one of the best parts,” math teacher and NHS advisor Gil Fuhr said. “The musicians are fantastic, and it’s all WA musicians and they always do a really nice job.”
Students and their families can stay to eat their dinner in the Westford Academy cafeteria. The club hopes that the event will inspire younger Westford students to get involved once they reach high school.
According to the official Empty Bowls website, the event began at Lahser High School in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan when art teacher John Hartom wanted to push his students to participate in a local food drive. So he came up with the idea of having his students craft ceramics bowls, then hosting a soup lunch in order to request donations. Over the next several years, the idea began to expand, and now several colleges and schools participate.
“The Empty Bowls Event is a charitable event to give artists and art students a chance to make a personal difference by raising money for soup kitchens, food banks and other organizations fighting hunger locally.” Deshmukh said.
Since NHS is a service organization, it strives to support students in the transition from solely participating in community services to becoming an activist. While the club only takes juniors and seniors as members, they appreciate help from anyone who is interested in helping out their community.
“[We want] to help out those in need and give back to the community. This event will not only help us raise money for a cause, but also unite a community together,” Deshmukh said.
