For the eighth year, students in the ceramics department at Desert Vista High School are on track to make more than 400 ceramic bowls for the Tempe Empty Bowls charity event this week.
Aiming to fight hunger in the Tempe area, the charity event has rallied schools, businesses and other organizations for the past 11 years.
About 40 to 45 students from Desert Vista have been potting and glazing the ceramic bowls everyday for the past few weeks, which will then be sold at the event Friday, Feb. 22 and Saturday, Feb. 23 for $10 a piece. Desert Vista ceramics teacher Mark Honaker is also making studio pieces for the event, which includes larger bowls, vases, jars and casserole dishes.
After purchasing a ceramic bowl, event attendees will then get a simple meal of soup and bread from Whole Foods.
“What’s really nice about this event, is kids helping other kids,” Honaker said of his students. “Once we started doing charity, it’s just a whole other avenue. And there’s a great amount of pride.”
Mentioning that its not only fun for him and his class, Honaker said it also refines their skills in ceramics, throwing and potting.
“It’s kind of a circle of life thing,” Honaker said. “Their efforts are leading to good things, and it keeps them motivated.
Tempe Empty Bowls will be hosted from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday in Tempe. Friday’s event will be at 6th Street Park, east of Mill Avenue on 6th Street, and at the Tempe Library Complex, at the southwest corner of Rural Road and Southern Avenue on Saturday.
For more information about Tempe Empty Bowls, visit tempeemptybowls.org.
Contact writer: (480) 898-4903 or dmartinez@ahwatukee.com. Follow on Twitter: @_dianamartinez.
