"Empty Bowls" To Be Full Of Hope For Once-Homeless Women And Children

by Riki Bolster

“What’s a soup kitchen?” – Paris Hilton

It’s a WIN-WIN.

You get a handcrafted bowl and cup filled with delicious soup and cooling drink, and the women and children of Trinity Hall receive a donation towards their journey to a new life.

Empty Bowls, a fundraiser for the formerly homeless women and children housed in Trinity Hall, will be held on Saturday, April 21, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Stone Soup Kitchen, 584 Woodward Ave. Stone Soup is contributing its famous soup and drink.

Two doors down the potters’ wheels and clay slab rollers have been worked overtime to create all the ceramic (and some glass) bowls donated by the artists of Cabbagetown Clay and Glass Works, a local cooperative studio and gallery.

Friends and neighbors are adding to the fun of the evening by contributing items for a raffle: a painting by Margaret Dyer, passes to Zoo Atlanta, a planter from Gardenhood, items from Intown Healthy Hound, and some wine packages.

“It’s very much like the old, old story of Stone Soup where the villagers all contribute just a bit of something to the pot of boiling water – a morsel of meat, a leftover carrot, an overlooked potato – and the result is a wonderful, filling soup. If we all do a little part the results are amazing – the circle of support just widens and widens,” Devanie Schilpp, CCGW member, said.

Last year’s Empty Bowls raised enough money for Trinity Hall to purchase a much-needed clothes washer and dryer. Trinity Hall is a 25-bed transitional shelter for women, 18 years of age or older, and their children, dedicated to assisting its participants to move from homelessness, substance abuse, and poverty to housing, stability, and jobs.

“We know that none of us can get through this life alone; we all need a shoulder to lean on. We want to carry on this tradition of support,” Sarah Rick, Stone Soup co-owner, said.

Operated by Mary Hall Freedom House, Inc., Trinity Hall provides safe housing, food, clothing, substance abuse and mental health treatment, employment training, and most importantly, strength and support to overcome great adversity to women from all walks of life. It is located inside Trinity United Methodist Church, 265 Washington St. SW.

Empty bowls can be purchased the night of the event for $30, refills for $5. Raffle tickets can be purchased before the event at Stone Soup Kitchen or the night of the event as well for $5.

"Je vis de bonne soupe, et non de beau langage." ("I live on good soup, not on fine words.”) – Molière