Bowls, local food and community spirit to come together for Oxford's annual hunger relief event

Oxford Empty Bowls will return to the Oxford Community Arts Center on Nov. 8 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., continuing its 23-year tradition of using art and food to bring the community together in the fight against hunger.

Kourtney Spalding, events coordinator for Oxford Empty Bowls and associate director of operations and facilities for Miami University’s Armstrong Student Center, believes that the event is focused on the community and gives them the power to enact change.

“We can all help in a little way,” she said.

Spalding believes that turnout will be large, ranging from 600 to 700 people over the course of three hours.

This year’s menu will feature soups, desserts and bread that have been donated by Oxford’s local businesses.

The Oxford Music Academy is expected to perform in the north parlor of the OCAC during the event, according to Spalding.

On average, Oxford Empty Bowls receives between 900 and 1,200 donated bowls each year.

This year, bowls will be for sale for $15 apiece, which are handcrafted and donated through a few different programs throughout the year.

The Butler County World Community Connections Grant is donating around 250 bowls, and due to extra funding from the Oxford Rotary Club, resident artists at the OCAC are providing 15 decorated, additional bowls..

The Ohio Valley Woodturners Guild is providing bowls handcrafted from cherry, walnut, maple, oak and other types of wood.

Oxford’s pottery store, You’re Fired, is expected to provide between 200 and 250 for the event this year.

Locals will also be donating their own handmade bowls, according to Spalding.

“Every year, we try to come up with something different,” Spalding said, with a variety of bowls available to the public.

“We’ve got the wood-turned bowls, we’ve got the hand-painted bowls, we’ve got the hand-thrown bowls, we’ve got sewn bowls and tiny bowls,” Spalding said. “There’s a lot of bowl art.”

Some people, according to Spalding, participate in the event to just buy bowls.

“This is their holiday gift for people,” she said. “They stack up 10 bowls and they buy all 10.”

Last year, Empty Bowls Oxford raised around $15,000 from the event, according to Spalding. The fundraiser helps fund Talawanda Oxford Pantry and Social Services (TOPSS) and other food insecurity programs in the area.

This year, the beneficiaries are TOPSS, the Oxford Lane Library Pantry, the Talawanda School District Little Free Pantry, the Open Hands Food Pantry, St. Mary’s Church Backpack Program and the Miami Cares Food Pantry.

Spalding, who has been a part of Oxford Empty Bowls for over a decade, added that this event is not only about feeding the community, but also educating everyone about nutrition and dietetics.

“Dietetics isn’t just about dieting or how you eat,” she said. “It’s also ‘can you get the food you need, is it healthy, (and will) it sustain yourself?’”

Spalding also notes that the event is environmentally friendly, and with the exclusion of wrappers for crackers, is almost fully zero-waste.

“That is a big pride point,” Spalding said. “That’s a really important piece for me that we are trying to be as low-waste as possible.”

Any leftover food will be put in the campus pantry and given a 24-hour shelf life for anyone to pick up.

Remaining bowls at the event will be kept for next year’s event and donated to other Empty Bowls events in the area.