It is only one week until the fourth annual Empty Bowls Project and more than 1,000 bowls have been painted and fired. Local restaurants are readying their soup. Volunteers are preparing to serve. And Good Samaritan Ministries is ready for another incredible community event.

This year’s Empty Bowls Project will be held on Thursday, March 28th from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Brownwood Coliseum.  For a donation in any amount, pick out a hand-painted ceramic bowl and enjoy a simple meal of soup or beans, bread and water.

Take your bowl home at the end of the meal as a reminder of those in your own community who have empty bowls and empty stomachs.

“We are so excited to see what this year’s Empty Bowls Project event brings,” said Angelia Bostick, Executive Director of Good Samaritan Ministries. “Every year it grows and changes and kind of takes on a life of its own.”

A few things to look for at this year’s event include a store where attendees can purchase items donated by local businesses and members of the community.   There will also be a table set up to paint bowls if anyone who didn’t get a chance in the months prior to the event.

There will be live music throughout the day including instrumentals on the violin, flute and harp, as well as vocalists.

Soup and beans are being donated by local restaurants including:  Runaway Train, 4-H Center, Sodexo, Prima Pasta, Brownwood Country Club, Steve’s Market & Deli, Humphrey Pete’s, Skillets, Taquito Millonario in Early, Brownwood Regional Medical Center, The Turtle, Lemmon’s Barbecue, Common Grounds and The Sticks.

“Again this year we have sponsors to cover the cost of the event so that everything we raise at the door will go to feeding hungry people,” Bostick said.

This year’s sponsors are:  Wal-Mart, Big Country Ford, Texas Bank, TXU Energy, Howard Payne University, Landmark Life, Southside Church and Doug and Sarah Chandler.

Ninety percent of everything raised at the door will go to the three hunger ministries of GSM:  The Food Pantry, Food for Thought and The Deer Project.  Ten percent will be tithed to Food for the Hungry, which provides international hunger relief.

“New this year, we will offer a $20 preview ticket,” said Bostick. “With that ticket, you can come to the coliseum from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. and have first choice of all the bowls, then come back and have soup with us later.”

Pre-sale tickets for the event and preview tickets for the first choice of the bowls are available at the GSM office at 305 Clark Street or from any GSM board member:  Paul Butler, Doug Chandler, Dana Cloy, Jan Guest, Doil Hammons, Dallas Huston, Pam Jenkins, Brett Koch, Darlene Locke, Gary Martin, Robin Nance, Dave Olhausen, Bob Peters, Curtis Shults, and Kristi Wilson). There are a limited number of bowl preview tickets available. For more information, call 203-2489.

Pictured above left are bowls from a past Empty Bowls event.