Community effort and community support is helping make the 2012 Good Samaritan Ministries Empty Bowls Project a success and is helping to make a difference to the hungry in Brownwood and across the world. The event runs until 7pm Thursday night at the Brownwood Coliseum and all funds raised go directly to the hungry, 90% is kept locally and the other 10% is tithed to a world hunger organization.

At lunch, hundreds of people came to participate in the program, admire and pick out hand painted bowls and enjoy soup donated by local restaurants. The bowls were then taken home to be a symbol of the many people facing empty bowls and the reality of hunger. Live music was enjoyed as participants dined.

Board president Paul Butler and board member Doil Hammons manned a table with examples of the many hunger projects that Good Samaritan offers such as the Deer Project and Food for Thought. They also had a pile of nonperishable items which gave a visual example of just how much food a donation of $10 to GSM can buy.

The event, according to Hammons, is a huge success and he was thrilled to see how the community support was pouring in, especially from donors of soup and items that were available to purchase at “the store,” a booth full of items donated by local merchants and individuals. In fact, local restaurants and churches donated 120 gallons of soup for the event, according to Hammons and Butler.

“The community support has been wonderful, they are all eager to feed the hungry,” said Hammons. “Sodexo brought huge batch of soup and even said if we run out to call them and they could make more and have it on the spot.”

Pictured above are participants choosing their bowls. Below are more pictures of the event.

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