MANCHESTER, Connecticut — Students and staff members at CT State Manchester – formally known as Manchester Community College – are working together again to support the Empty Bowls Project, which raises money for Connecticut Foodshare.
Two entities on campus collaborate for Empty Bowls – the Arts Department and the Culinary Arts Department.
Ceramics students are busy crafting hand made bowls, while the culinary students are preparing soup for the Oct. 19 event on campus. Guests buy a bowl at the event for $25 and can fill it as many times as they want with homemade soup.
Not only do students make the soup, but area restaurants are donating many varieties of soup for the fundraiser.
Molly Devanney, a project chairwoman for the Connecticut Empty Bowls Project, said, “Empty Bowls is an event where the community comes together. You get a bowl, and the bowl signifies filling the need. We have CT State students in the Arts Department, and we have [students] from the Culinary Arts Department working together with local restaurants and with local businesses that sponsor it.”
Working on her latest ceramic bowl, arts and education student Mikey Jaffee said of the Empty Bowls Project, “I think it’s so awesome that you can use these talents to make a difference in the community for people that need it.”
Upstairs, in the CT State kitchen, culinary arts student Miguel Nunez was getting ready to prepare both clam chowder and vegetable soup for the event.
He said, “I just want to inspire people as a future chef and as an up-and-coming chef that you can do this and give back to the community and have fun doing it.”
Devanney added, “We couldn’t do this event if it weren’t for both departments working together and the collaboration between them.”
Last year, the event raised $40,000 for Connecticut Foodshare. The 2024 edition of the Empty Bowls Project happens on Oct. 19 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at CT State Manchester. Tickets cost $25 per person. To learn more click here.
Over the past 24 years, the initiative has raised over $400,000 for Connecticut Foodshare.
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Jim Altman is a reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at jaltman@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, X and Instagram.
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