MOFGA-El Salvador Sistering Committee Empty Bowl Supper June 10 in Unity

May 8, 2023

Want to buy a handsome, Maine-made bowl and support the MOFGA-El Salvador Sistering Committee’s work — all for just $20 ($45 maximum for families)? Come to the committee’s 19th Empty Bowl Supper on Saturday, June 10, at MOFGA’s Common Ground Education Center in Unity, Maine.

The committee is excited to host this event once again after missing three years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This year the event is coordinated with Farm & Homestead Day at MOFGA, which will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on MOFGA’s grounds in Unity. The exhibition hall doors will open at 4 p.m. for the supper. Guests can enjoy live music while they select their bowls, donated by talented Maine potters. Beginning at 5 p.m., after brief comments welcoming supper guests and describing the sistering committee’s program, an organic meal of soup (with a choice of vegan, vegetarian or meat-based), bread (donated by Back 40 Bakehouse) and desserts will be served.

This supper raises funds for the committee’s work of fostering solidarity between small, organic farmers and gardeners in Maine and El Salvador. Those funds have helped bring Salvadorans to Maine to tour farms, meet with community organizers and agricultural officials, address college classes and participate in the Common Ground Country Fair; helped fund events relating to the Central American Free Trade Agreement for sistering organizations in El Salvador; and helped with work to prevent mining companies from destroying our Salvadoran sisters’ mountains, water supplies, communities and agricultural lands. In fact, El Salvador was the first country in the world to ban metallic mining.

Empty Bowl Suppers started in Michigan in 1990, when a high school art teacher helped his students raise funds to support a food drive. A class project to make ceramic bowls for a fundraising meal evolved. Guests were served a simple meal of soup and bread, and were invited to keep the bowl as a reminder of hunger in the world. Subsequently, Empty Bowls developed into a project to support food banks, soup kitchens and other organizations that fight hunger. The Imagine/RENDER Group, a 501(c)3 organization, promotes the project, and Empty Bowl events raise millions of dollars worldwide to help combat hunger.

For several years, the Unitarian Universalist Church in Belfast graciously donated its space for the MOFGA-El Salvador Sistering Committee’s supper. This year the MOFGA committee decided to combine the supper with Farm & Homestead Day so that participants can enjoy a whole day and evening at MOFGA’s site. Please come dine and socialize, to support MOFGA’s Salvadoran partners, and to take home a beautiful bowl. For those who attend only the supper, please park in MOFGA’s south lot on Route 220. To donate bowls, please contact Karen Volckhausen ([email protected] or 207-266-5832) or leave them at the MOFGA office. Tickets will be available at the door.

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