The 18<sup>th</sup> annual Empty Bowls fundraiser to help fight food insecurity in the Martin community and Weakley County will be held in person from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 20, at the UT Martin Student Life Center located at 119 Moody Street. Online sales of handcrafted bowls will begin Nov. 13 and continue through Nov. 21. Empty Bowls is sponsored by UT Martin and the university’s Department of Visual and Theatre Arts.

Donors will receive a handcrafted bowl for each $15 donation with all proceeds supporting We Care Ministries, Inc. The bowls are made by UT Martin art professor and potter David McBeth, his students and other volunteers. McBeth founded Martin Empty Bowls in 2003, which has grown to an annual event where every donation to the We Care Ministries Food Pantry is acknowledged with the gift of a bowl. The traditional Empty Bowls soup meal will not be held this year because of the pandemic.
<blockquote>“This is a labor of love involving both the university and community,” McBeth said.</blockquote>
“This is a labor of love involving both the university and community,” McBeth said. “We do this because food insecurity affects our neighbors and fighting world hunger begins in our own community. I’m grateful to the many volunteers and community supporters who make Empty Bowls possible.”

We Care Ministries was founded in 1973 and receives no government funding. All monetary donations are used to assist Weakley County families through 11 assistance programs that include the food bank, education and literacy, child care and direct aid.

Information about the Empty Bowls fundraiser is available at <a href="http://www.martinemptybowls.com">www.martinemptybowls.com</a> and <a href="http://www.facebook.com/martinemptybowls">www.facebook.com/martinemptybowls</a>. McBeth can be reached at 731-881-7416.
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