GAINESVILLE – Over 850 people crowded the banquet hall at First Baptist Church on Green Street during the noon hour Tuesday for the 10th annual Empty Bowl Lunch.
According to organizers of the event enough money was raised from the luncheon and associated auctions to provide more than 673,000 meals in the coming year to those struggling with hunger in Hall, Lumpkin, Union, Dawson and Forsyth Counties.
Decorated, handmade empty ceramic bowls lined tables inside the lobby of the banquet hall, serving as reminders and as souvenirs that despite our strong economy there still are people in northeast Georgia who don’t know where their next meal will come from.
The Empty Bowl luncheon is the largest fund raising event for the Georgia Mountain Food Bank, an outreach started by Jim Mathis and Kay Blackstock over a decade ago. Since then more than 33-million meals have been provided, 74 agencies have partnered with GMFB and over 50,000 volunteers have given of their time to make the outreach one of the most effective in the nation.
Featured speaker Georgia First Lady Sandra Deal encouraged everyone to find a way to become involved with GMFB, even if it meant harvesting things from your garden or thinning out over-crowded pantry shelves at home and bringing those items to the GMFB.
Gainesville businessman Doug Carter served as auctioneer, bringing laughter and high bids for a series of “empty bowls” handmade by well-known local supporters of GMFB, including Kirby Smart, Abit Massey, Ron Gant, musician Charlie Daniels, Georgia Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black and others.
A silent auction in the lobby featured sports, history and music memorabilia.
For more information on the Georgia Mountain Food Bank, click here, or call (770) 534-4111.
“Georgia Mountain Food Bank is proud to celebrate the accomplishments of the last 10 years as we reflect the community-wide effort that has gone into serving food- insecure families in North Georgia,” said Blackstock, Executive Director. “We thank the community for being a part of this great mission and appreciate their continued support as we move into the next decade of fighting hunger.”
To hear Blackstock reminisce about the decade of service GMFB has provided use the audio player above.
