Wilmington nonprofits the Good Shepherd Center and Mother Hubbard's Cupboard have announced a new event that will benefit both organizations' efforts to provide hot meals and fresh groceries to those facing food insecurity in the tri-county area.

Mini Bowls will be held on Saturday, June 22 from noon to 3 p.m. at the Alcove Beer Garden in the Cargo District. The event is a follow-up to Empty Bowls, hosted in March at the First Baptist Church Activity Center following a four-year hiatus.

Along with a bowl of soup, each Empty Bowls ticket holder selected a handcrafted bowl to take home as a keepsake. Artisans representing the Coastal Carolina Clay Guild, Fat Cat Pottery and Cape Fear Community College crafted and donated the bowls. 

Each one-of-a-kind bowl is meant to serve as a reminder of the over 36,000 adults
and children, or roughly 1 in 6 people, experiencing food insecurity in New Hanover County.
 
"Empty Bowls 2024 was our most successful event yet with $70,000 raised for the Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard food pantry program and Good Shepherd Center’s soup kitchen,” said Good Shepherd Center Executive Director Katrina Knight.

“Over 1,500 people attended and more than 30 local restaurants donated soup. With so much community need for food support as we head into summer, our hope is that Mini Bowls will supplement this effort and enable these vital hunger response programs to meet even more of the need for our hungry neighbors."
 
Entry to the Mini Bowls event is free and each bowl costs $20. RSVP and receive updates about the event on Facebook at www.facebook.com/EmptyBowlsWilmingtonNC.