NE. Minneapolis fundraiser fights hunger one bowl of soup at a time

It was a good day to sit with a tasty, warm bowl of soup and chat with neighbors and friends. It was a good day to help raise awareness of hunger in the community and a good day to raise money for three organizations that help fight hunger.

Local pottery artists, students at Edison High School, volunteers and four dedicated organizers came together Sunday for the third annual Empty Bowls NE, held at Eastside Neighborhood Services on 2nd Street NE. in Minneapolis.

In the gym, tables held about 700 handmade bowls — about half made by art students and half by local potters. In the kitchen and community room next door, soup, bread and coffee donated by more than a dozen Twin Cities restaurants were served. And the choices were mouthwatering: Swedish meatball, butternut squash bisque, spicy black bean, Thai red pepper, potato cheddar, potato leek, chipotle tomato, Asian bone broth and others.

The soup donors, which each gave about 10 gallons of their finest, included the Red Stag Supper Club, Maeve's Cafe, Draft Horse, the Sheridan Room, Anchor Fish & Chips, Chowgirls Catering, Sen Yai Sen Lek and others.

A suggested donation of $20 let attendees pick their own ceramic bowl and refill it as many times as they wanted. No one was turned away for lack of money; some gave $1, others $5, then someone would come along and donate $100, said organizer Susannah Dodge. The bowls were washed and rewashed by volunteers between servings.

Marissa Harris, a former northeast Minneapolis resident, chose a tiny bowl so she could try a variety of soups.

"They were all so good!" she said. Her favorites were from Anchor Fish & Chips and the Swedish meatball soup from the Red Stag.

His daughter, state Sen. Kari Dziedzic, said she'd only tried the Thai red pepper soup. So far.

Tom Dunnwald, who was there with his wife, Sonja Peterson, offered advice on pruning raspberry plants and recommended the butternut squash soup.

"You picked a table of good community people," said state Rep. Diane Loeffler, who was there with her husband, Mike.

Organizer Rachel Hoemke, an art teacher at Edison, rarely stopped moving once the event was underway, overseeing the reheating of soup, checking on tables and supplies and shuffling volunteers as a steady line of people held out their bowls.

"We have a lot of people, we have a lot of bowls," she said. "We also have a surplus of volunteers. Our students have been awesome."

Edison students made some of the soups in cooking class, she said. Students made some of the bowls and glazed all of them. Students even grew some of the vegetables and microgreens with a hydroponic setup in the basement of a south Minneapolis restaurant. The event now has become part of the school's IB curriculum, said organizer Krista Marino, a ceramics teacher at Edison.

Aaron Neumann, a community organizer and Realtor, said Sunday's event raised $8,336.41. About $600 of that came from a pottery lottery raffle with artist-donated items. That will go to the Edison High School arts program. The rest will be split among the Sheridan Story, which provides a weekend's supply of food to kids eligible for the free or reduced-priced lunches at school; Helping Hand Food Pantry, which serves low-income and homeless residents in the 55418 and 55413 ZIP codes, and the East Side Neighborhood Services Food Programs, which run three food shelves, including one specifically for Hennepin County seniors.

Last year, Empty Bowls NE raised about $4,500, and in its first year, about $2,000.

Pat Pheifer • 612-673-7252