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Big Turnout for Paducah's Empty Bowls Project

Big Turnout for Paducah's Empty Bowls Project
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By Bill Hughes
Feb. 24, 2018 | PADUCAH, KY
By Bill Hughes Feb. 24, 2018 | 06:04 PM | PADUCAH, KY
Steady rain didn't stop folks from coming to the Julian Carroll Convention Center to participate in the Empty Bowls Project. In fact, the weather may have helped the turnout.

With temperatures in the 60s, Michael Terra, organizer of the annual event, said, "If the sun were shining, half of these people would be out doing gardening work, so a little bit of rain is good for us."

Each year, Terra organizes volunteers and fellow artists for several months as they make bowls to prepare for the event. Those who buy $15 tickets get to choose the bowl the prefer, fill it with food from about a dozen local restaurants for lunch, then take the bowl home to keep.

Patrons could refill their bowl up to ten times in order to sample as much of the food as they wanted. Vendors brought a variety of foods: salad, several soups and chilies, beans and rice, jambalaya, chicken, potato casserole, ice cream and bread.

"Restaurants have really upped their game and brought really delicious things. We've got some new faces at the table, which kind of mixes it up a little bit, and we've got people who have been loyal from the beginning, and they just keep getting better every year," Terra said.

Proceeds from the meal will help Community Ministries, which operates Community Kitchen on Martin Luther King, Jr., Drive, feeding hundreds of people each day.

The Empty Bowls Project ran from 11:30 am until 2 pm, and with about an hour left in the event, Terra estimated 1,380 people had come to the Julian Carroll Convention Center to participate.

Terra said, "We have 1,653 bowls with us today, and we've got roughly about 250-300 left, so I'm kind of figuring my math that way."

He said it will probably be a week or two before they pay all of their expenses and know exactly how much money will go to Community Kitchen.









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