WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — One by one, folks who bought tickets to the Empty Bowls event drove through to pick up soup and handcrafted bowls. The whole idea is to put food on your table and help Second Harvest Food Bank put food on the tables of those who need it.
Second Harvest Food Bank serves an 18-county area from Boone to Burlington. They help 500+ food pantries, organizations and agencies get food to provide to their communities.
Before COVID, about 400,000 meals were provided each year, now that number has jumped to 4 million. It's a big jump and there are big needs in our community.
It's estimated one in six people are food insecure in our area-- that means they either don't have food, don't have access to healthy food, or have enough of it. One in five children is impacted by hunger in our area.
Delicious soups, beautiful bowls, and a worthy cause
Second Harvest takes food donations, but they often can do more with monetary donations. Because they are a charity and buy in such bulk, they are able to buy more for $1 than you are. Donate online here.
You can also donate your time. Second Harvest needs groups to help to process orders to those 500+ agencies, pack them up and load them into the trucks. One year, my friends and family got together on a Saturday morning and served for about two to three hours and did this at the warehouse. It was a great experience.
From their website:
Hunger is not just about calories...it's about health. Food is expensive and fresh, healthy options are even more so. Families frequently are forced to choose quantity (filling up bellies) over quality (healthier, nutrient-rich options).
The connection between hunger and health is clear: Obesity, diabetes, and other diet-related illnesses are higher in food-insecure households.
