Empty Bowls Naples Inc

The mission of Empty Bowls Naples Inc. is to create awareness and raise funds to eliminate hunger in our community ONE BOWL at a time.  More than 41,000 people in  Collier county and over 92,000 people in Lee county are food insecure.  These populations include children, elderly, disabled, low income individuals and families and unemployed.  Through our annual event in Cambier Park each January we are able to distribute grants to local mission related organizations joining us in the fight to end hunger in our community.   The Annual  Empty Bowls Naples Inc. Event may only be one day, but the impact on the community is year-round.  Hundreds of volunteers are involved throughout the year in achieving all the duties necessary to execute the event.  Empty Bowls Naples Inc. provides a unique opportunity for community members to volunteer their time, skills, talents, resources, and passion to help their neighbors in need.  The basic premise is simple, but it does "take a village" to make the event a success.  People from all walks of life come together to enjoy and share a simple meal of soup and bread, take home a beautiful handcrafted bowl, and know they are helping to feed a neighbor in need.  The key objectives of our program include: raising money to fund the Empty Bowls Naples Inc. Grant Program which awards funding to local organizations sharing our mission to eliminate hunger in our community;increasing awareness of the large food insecure populations in Collier and Lee Counties;building community support, involvement, and action.

Empty Bowls Naples increases awareness of the food insecurity issue in our community through our public, private, and corporate painting sessions.  We also go to facilities such as assisted living and retirement communities, college campuses, and other organizations that can't come to us.   Our annual event brings together  numerous sectors of the community including volunteers, businesses, artists, potters, merchants, students and teachers, merchants, to help our neighbors.   Our strategy is to continue to make our organization known throughout the year, get more people involved raise more funding.  Through our grant program we become more aware of what our local hunger related organizations are doing and what we can do to better serve the insecure population.

Empty Bowls Naples continues to grow in size and support from a 500 bowl event twelve years ago to an expected 4,500 bowls, over 100 silent auction pieces, and thousands of attendees for the 13th Annual Event.  This event has become a Naples tradition.   New volunteers bring new ideas and new contacts for making each year better.

Our first year as a new 501(c)(3) non-profit organization has been a year of rebuilding.  We had to replenish all soup supplies, a kiln, clay, glazes, and operational equipment lost in the transition to an independent organization.  We selected a board of directors and continue to work on our strategic plan for operation.  It has been a successful first year.  We aren't as tech savvy as we want to be.  We are continuing to recruit new volunteers to help us in that capacity. We would also like to expand our event sponsor base.  We are considering possibly holding a smaller event earlier in the year in the future to attract potential sponsors and individual donors.