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AUSTIN, Texas – Thousands of handmade bowls are taking shape across Austin, with each one crafted with a purpose.<\/p>\n
The Austin Empty Bowl Project\u00a0helps feed families facing hunger, at a time when many are still waiting for SNAP benefits because of the government shutdown.<\/p>\n
What they’re saying:<\/p>\n
The Central Texas Food Bank says food insecurity is a year-round issue. And as SNAP delays continue, events like the Austin Empty Bowl Project are providing much-needed relief.<\/p>\n
“Right now, we’re trying to ensure people have what they need to get through the day, that kids are nourished, that older adults don’t have to choose between food and medicine,” said Sari Vatske, Central Texas Food Bank President.<\/p>\n
Just this week, 1,000 people lined up at Nelson Field for essential groceries and another 600 at the Pflugerville distribution.<\/p>\n
“Prior to the shutdown, we were already spending $1.3 million a month, and now we are actually spending a million dollars per week to try and purchase food to make up for the shortfall,” said Vatske.<\/p>\n
SNAP funding recipients will get some help as the White House agrees to extend coverage for a couple of weeks. It’s a short term victory still in need of a long-term solution as the government shutdown approaches the longest in history.<\/p>\n The food bank says it\u2019s seeing a 50% increase in people relying on its services, a gap of $44 million in SNAP benefits across its 21-county service area. It is a tough reality, making the work behind the Austin Empty Bowl Project more important than ever.<\/p>\n It all starts on the potter’s wheel, where hundreds of people volunteer their time and talents to donate these bowls to the Austin Empty Bowl project.<\/p>\n On Wednesday, a team was hard at work at the Austin pottery studio throwing bowls on the wheel for this year\u2019s 29th annual event.<\/p>\n “This Sunday before Thanksgiving, we have about 1,500 people that attend every year. We’ll have over 3,000 bowls available for folks to purchase with their $30 donation. And we’ve got over 200 gallons of soup pledged already,” said Deb Dixon, Co-Director, Austin Empty Bowl Project.<\/p>\n After lunch, guests take their bowl home as a symbol and a reminder of those facing empty bowls in our community.<\/p>\n “To help our neighbors in need, those who are food insecure. That’s more important now than ever before. So, for those that don’t have food to fill their bowls, we can help the food bank and meals on wheels stretch those dollars and help contribute to that need,” said Dixon.<\/p>\n According to the Central Texas Food Bank, each $30 donation supports the food bank\u2019s Kids Caf\u00e9 Program and Meals on Wheels Central Texas, the same amount it takes to feed a family of four for a week or provide three home-delivered meals.<\/p>\n “I think the community is laser-focused right now, and it would be a shame for the community not to really take this moment and understand that hunger is a solvable problem,” said Henry Van De Putte, CEO, Meals On Wheels Central Texas.<\/p>\n The Austin Empty Bowl Project takes place November 23 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Central Texas Food Bank.<\/p>\n The Source: Information from interviews conducted by FOX 7 Austin’s Jenna King<\/p>\n Austin<\/a>Community<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AUSTIN, Texas – Thousands of handmade bowls are taking shape across Austin, with each one crafted with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":37636,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[132,134,133,447,223,1726,394,216,393],"class_list":{"0":"post-37635","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-austin","9":"tag-austin-headlines","10":"tag-austin-news","11":"tag-community","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-series","14":"tag-travis-county","15":"tag-tx","16":"tag-us"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37635\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37636"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"PREVIOUS](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/2962E4CFFCB4B9383E13B6040FDFEB07.jpg\")
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