UPB Hosting Empty Bowls & Baskets Dinner to Benefit Friendship Table

The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford will host its third Empty Bowls and Baskets Dinner Friday, April 11, to raise awareness of the fight against hunger. Proceeds will benefit the Friendship Table. Sponsored by the Women’s History Month Celebration committee, the dinner will be held at 5:30 p.m. in the Mukaiyama University Room of the Frame-Westerberg Commons. Tickets for the event are $10 and will be sold at the door. Dinner will consist of homemade soup and bread, and diners can select a handmade ceramic bowl or a basket as a reminder of the dinner’s purpose. According to Dr. Holly J. Spittler, associate dean of student affairs and chairwoman of the event, "The premise behind the dinner is to provide adequate food and a place at the table for all, as well as to educate to help end hunger." Pitt-Bradford students and volunteers spent several afternoons and evenings painting bisque bowls or weaving baskets for the event. Inmates from the Federal Correctional Institution -- McKean also created and painted bowls for the project. Third-grade students from School Street Elementary and St. Bernard schools, as well as third- and fourth-graders from The Learning Center and the Bradford Area Christian Academy decorated placemats as part of a lesson about hunger.

This year’s Empty Bowls and Baskets Dinner received support from the American Association of University Women, Nancy Billings, Diana’s Ceramic Heaven, Anna Ezzolo, FCI-McKean, The Friendship Table, Derilyn Heller, Hog Shed Pottery Studio, Metz and Associates, Miss Maggies, Betsy Matz, Parkview Supermarket, Pitt-Bradford’s Alpha Phi Omega Service Fraternity, Anthropology Club, Center for Leadership and Service, Division of Communication and the Arts, Empty Bowls and Baskets Steering Committee, Student Affairs, TRiO Student Support Services Program, Tops Friendly Markets, Wal-Mart and WESB-1490 AM.