[GP-Eldorado-n] Empty Bowls 2006

[Diana Stauffer]

There is a story about a man who left this earth and was taken on a tour of the inner realms. He was shown a room where he saw a large group of hungry people trying to eat dinner, but because the spoons they were trying to eat with were longer than their arms, they remained frustrated. "This," his guide told him, "is hell". "That's terrible!" exclaimed the man; "Please show me heaven" "Very well", agreed the guide, and on they went. When they opened Heaven's door, the man was perplexed to see what looked very much like the same scene: there was a group of people with spoons longer than their arms. As he looked more closely, however, he saw happy faces and full tummies, for there was one important difference: the people in Heaven had learned to feed each other.
Story from The Dragon Doesn't Live Here Anymore 
by Alan Cohen

 

EMPTY BOWLS 2006

 

Hi to all of you long time Empty Bowls Friends and Supporters and to all of you new people who are on this list for the first time- 

 

It's that time of year again - Save the date Saturday, November 11, 2006 for this year's Empty Bowls Supper. As you may have noticed, unfortunately, the problem of hunger has not been solved since our last EB event. The gap between the haves and the have nots, here and all over the world, continues to expand. The priorities of our current government serve the interests of the rich and powerful, while ignoring the needs of the poorest and most vulnerable of our society. We continue to pour unprecedented amounts of money into the Bush administrations immoral war in Iraq at the expense of programs for human needs here and overseas. Sometimes it seems that there is so little that we can do to change the course of national policy, but all of those large and small things that we do to turn the tide have an effect. Sometimes we don't always see the effect immediately and sometimes we may not see it at all, but the positive ripples are there and the effort is always worthwhile.

Empty Bowls is a small gesture that keeps us all connected to an understanding of how things really are for a large number of our fellow humans. It is also a way of remaining connected to one another here, in our local activist community. Hopefully, it helps to keep us dedicated, in the long term, to finding a real solution to the problems of poverty, injustice, and hunger in our world. It raises some small but significant amounts of money ($8000 last year) to support the efforts of direct aid organizations here and abroad.  In recent years, it has also drawn a larger number of young people into our activist community which both strengthens and heartens the older activist community, and is the hope for the future of our ideals. This year, as always, the money will be divided between a direct aid organization in our own community, The Upper Room, and one in the global community, Mercy Corps with the donation designated for relief to Lebanon.

Empty Bowls has three objectives: 

1) To raise funds to feed hungry people  2) To raise awareness about the issues of hunger and inequality in our local and global communities 3) To remind people that through artistic creativity we can help to create positive social change.

The basic idea is simple, as many of you know. Local potters, both professional and student, donate handmade bowls for use in serving a simple dinner of bread and soup. Guests make donations for their meal and can keep the bowl their soup was served in as a reminder that hunger exists all year long. 

We have moved the venue for this year's event to the Shakespeare Club in Placerville. We are trying it out as a venue because we seem to have outgrown all our previous venues. Hopefully it will be a warm and welcoming a place for this well loved community event. In the last few years we had some vendors at the event with Fair Trade items for sale and we will try that again this year as everyone seemed to really enjoy it. There will be a Peace Community table with all the peace stuff that anyone would want to buy, including the ever popular, Syracuse Cultural Workers Peace Calendar for 2007.

You are receiving this letter because you are on my list of kitchen volunteers and cooks from past years or you have expressed an interest in being added to that list. Within the next week, we will post recipes for 4 different soups on the Peace and Justice Community website www.edpjc.org   It is best if you follow the recipes pretty much as they are, because it makes the heating and serving of the soup much easier if one batch is much like another. If you are a baker and want to contribute bread, feel free to use your creative talents and do whatever suits you - it's hard to go wrong with homemade bread. Please e-mail me at turoffc at earthlink.net if  1.You do not want to be included on this list anymore   2.You will be making bread or soup and please indicate type of soup you are planning to make (Vegetarian Minestrone, Vegetarian Potato, Beef/Barley, or Chicken Noodle) - that way I can make whatever others did not choose so we will have the full variety   3.You are willing to help out in the kitchen the day of the event  4.You have tablecloths and/or bread baskets that we can use that night    5.You have any questions or suggestions 6. You have any other food item to donate (like apples or cider)

If you would like to be involved, but do not want to cook or bake, please contact Rich Waters at 622 6900 or plomero at directcon.net or Maureen Dion-Perry at dionperry at internet49.com  so they can hook you up with others areas needing help. Thank you very much for your support of this and other Peace and Justice Community events and see you on the 11th of November! - Carla (Turoff), Food Coordinator, EB 2006

 
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