By Jade’a Broome | Raider Review Staff
Plant City High School students spent the first half of the semester making clay bowls for the annual Empty Bowls event in Historic Downtown Plant City. Through a joint project with the PCHS art department, students created the bowls to be auctioned off to bidders or sold to attendees at the Saturday, Nov. 14, event. Proceeds from the sales went to the United Food Bank.
The Food Bank provides local families with free groceries, as well as providing turkeys for Thanksgiving.
“Playing with clay, and the point of it, was an overall cool idea,” ninth-grader Kristen Watson said.
Students were able to design their bowls themselves.
“My inspiration was Africa,” 11th-grader Anyssa Smith said. “The tribal print was a pretty cool idea to me.”
PCHS students were joined by other students at area schools who made bowls for the event. Around 100 students participated. At PCHS, participation was mandatory and they earned a grade for their bowl. Students said that the bowls were fun to make, and being able to help other people was not only a great idea but a good deed.
This year was the event’s fourth year. For $10, attendees selected a soup along with the bowl of their choice.
Various local churches and organizations committed to help with the event. These groups include Evangelical Presbyterian Church, St. Clement Catholic Church, St. Mary’s Community Church, Woman’s Club of Plant City, Hope Lutheran Church and Trinity United Methodist Church. They provided soups, such as broccoli cheese, vegetable, smoked pot roast, Spanish bean, chicken and turkey.
In addition to lunch, there was also live entertainment by the Plant City Chorale, Next Radical Generation, and Ace Jackson and the Jump Kings.