Empty Bowls Raises Thousands of Dollars to Fight Local Hunger

Chandler-Gilbert Community College raised over $5,700 for AZCEND, formerly Chandler Christian Community Center, to assist families in need of food at the 5th Annual Empty Bowls event on Tuesday, October 24th. The event was sponsored by members of Student Life and the Service-Learning Office. Attendees purchased handmade ceramic bowls for $10 made by the CGCC service-learning ceramic students with 100 percent of the proceeds benefiting AZCEND.

"We cannot thank our ceramics faculty and students enough for sharing their art in such a unique way,” said Alexandra Cannell-Wendt, Service-Leaning Coordinator at CGCC. “For every $20 raised, CGCC was to provide $100 worth of food to AZCEND. We are also thankful for nutrition students and faculty who helped serve soup and bread, our donors, and AZCEND for partnering to help end food insecurity in our community.”

Event attendees were served a 300-calorie meal which included a cup of hot soup and a bread roll donated by Dilly's Deli and Liberty Market. This small portion meal was meant to signify the average number of calories a food-insecure person eats in one day.

Empty Bowls at CGCC is part of a district-wide fundraiser that raises funds for families in support of World Food Day (October 16), a day of action for people around the world to come together to declare their commitment to eradicate hunger.

AZCEND’s mission and vision is to change lives by nourishing minds and bodies to create a connected thriving community and to have a healthy and productive community built on a foundation of dignity and hope. Each year AZCEND distributes over 15,000 food boxes locally with enough food to feed 50,000 adults and children. For more information about AZCEND visit www.azcend.org.