Bowled Over

Annual fundraiser raises more than $2,000 for food-insecure families.

The school community flooded into the dining hall and eagerly pored over the handcrafted bowls on display. Picking up each one and examining the glaze, they struggled to narrow down their favorites and choose one to purchase. After making their selection, students from the Topics in Food Insecurity class helped them complete their purchases. With the sale of the handcrafted bowls and other components of the event, the class raised more than $2,000 to support food-insecure families in the surrounding community — the population the community service class has supported throughout the academic year.

The annual fundraiser — Empty Bowls — returned after a pandemic-induced hiatus to raise money for local food pantries, including the School's Pomfret Power Packs program. After spending the first two terms of the school year designing and building a food pantry, the Food Insecurity class turned their efforts to planning and executing a fundraiser to help pay for the food they purchase to supplement the donated items they receive.

They teamed up with Ceramics Arts and Sculpture Teacher Sarah MacLeod’s students to make more than 100 bowls to sell at the fundraiser. Tate Kuiper ’22 contributed some bowls to the sale as well as vases for the silent auction. The other pieces up for bid were made by MacLeod, Photography Teacher Lindsay Lehmann, and the Kuiper family.

In addition to pottery, students sold raffle tickets for baskets donated by The Tuck Shop and School Store, canvas bags, and baked goods. Items in the bake sale were made by Pomfret faculty members and included the famous Chase brownies. Every student who purchased a ceramic bowl was also served ice cream — graciously contributed by We-Lik-It Farms.

Most students held off on eating their sweets until after they finished the dinner prepared by Pomfret’s dining service — FLIK Independent School Dining. Keeping with the tradition of serving soup at the fundraiser, chicken noodle, New England clam chowder, creamy tomato bisque, and vegan miso soup with tofu were on the menu.

“The empty bowl fundraiser was a great way to bring the School closer together and was a great show of support for our local community,” says Dava Dudek ’23. “Everyone in our class worked really hard to create, organize, and staff all the stations, and to make all of the bowls during our pottery nights.”