The pop-up store tied to this year’s Empty Bowls fundraising event for the OUR Center opens Monday at Crackpots.
The event, which in years past has included donors purchasing and painting bowls from Crackpots to be sold at a one-day event and local restaurants serving soup in the purchased bowls, went virtual this year. The multiple-month virtual effort that will be OUR Center’s only fundraiser for 2021. Community members were invited to purchase and paint bowls, which will be on sale at the pop-up.
Instead of gathering for one large meal, purchases will come with a soup mix, while supplies last. Soup mixes were donated by local Safeway and Whole Foods stores, according to the OUR Center website.
Proceeds will help the OUR Center “keep up with food demands,” according to a news release from the organization.
Tamar Hendricks, owner of Crackpots, estimates 650 bowls have been donated to the cause, however, only around 350 will be displayed as many community members have already purchased their bowls.
Crackpots is still waiting for several bowls that were taken home to be painted to be returned this weekend.
Bowls are $20, which provides 10 meals at the OUR Center, according to a Friday newsletter from the nonprofit.
The OUR Center will hold on to the most creative bowls for an online auction, which will take place April 7-11.
While Hendricks can’t wait to get back to the “big event” of past years, she said she is excited her shop is able to help the OUR Center with the pop-up store this year. She hopes more people will discover the cause or just drop by the Main Street store to see the bowls.
The event “is a perfect marriage between art and helping the community. Empty Bowls events happen across the country but what makes ours unique is that it is also an opportunity for the entire community to get involved and bring more awareness to the hunger that exists within our community. It also becomes a physical reminder and shows one of the ways art can make a difference,” Hendricks said.
