For the 24th year, Empty Bowls Dinner will offer community members a chance to gather to enjoy a humble and delicious dinner while raising funds to fight hunger both in our community and abroad. This year, the event will be organized by youth participants in Hands4Hope - Youth Making A Difference, and will take place on Saturday, April 6, from 4 to 7 pm at the Placerville Shakespeare Club.
Empty Bowls is a nationwide grassroots effort to fight hunger. A signature of the event is that every attendee receives a keepsake handmade bowl to remind them of the cause. The handmade bowls at the Placerville event are donated by local students and artists, and each one is a unique treasure. The event will also feature live music by Coloma Celtic, and vendors including Global Good (fair trade), Noble Ventures (human trafficking), and Days for Girls (international menstrual health solutions).
Proceeds from this event benefit the Upper Room Dining Hall in Placerville, which served 66,878 meals last year to those in need and is working to expand services to provide a mobile food truck to reach more people in our community who can not get to them. It would also allow them to mobilize quickly in the event of an emergency like the Caldor Fire. Our second local beneficiary is Hands4Hope - Youth Making A Difference Emergency Food Pantry in Placerville which is providing healthy food for those in need in our own community. The international beneficiary is Earth Angels in Ghana. Earth Angels is creating a self-sustainable fish farm in Ghana that will literally produce tons of fish to feed people in need, and plans to expand the farm to raise other crops.
Empty Bowls Placerville was led for 23 years by the El Dorado Peace and Justice Community, with assistance provided by Hands4Hope participants in recent years. In 2024, the event leadership transitioned to the youth-led Hands4Hope committee. The Hands4Hope Empty Bowls Committee includes 12 high school age leaders who are managing all aspects of the event, including coordinating the soup and bread donations, the bowl donations, marketing, finance, and operations. The youth work with support and oversight from a volunteer Adult Mentor, a Hands4Hope Intern, and a Hands4Hope staff member.
Tickets and Sponsorships for this event are now available. Tickets are $20 presale, $25 at the door (if available), with discounts for students and free admission for young children. Sponsorships start at just $100 and include tickets to the event.
Tickets, sponsorships, and additional information can be found at hands4hopeyouth.org/emptybowls.