DENTON — Bill Reed’s hobby of hand-crafting ceramic bowls helps feed hungry people and helps feed his soul.
The retired Raytheon engineer donates them to Empty Bowls of Denton, a nonprofit group that sells the bowls to help fight hunger locally. Reed, who lives in Denton, estimates he's given more than 2,500 bowls to Empty Bowls over 15 years.
"This is a system where everybody wins," says Reed, 74. "It gives me a good feeling. The Empty Bowls folks benefit by having a sure supply of bowls. People who need something to eat end up with a meal."
In the United States, 37 million people struggle with hunger, according to the nonprofit Feeding America. And hunger has been increasing, with more than 820 million people not having enough food, according to several international reports.
A full plate
Twenty years ago, Reed took a ceramics class, and he has been throwing clay in his garage workshop ever since.
"I like the texture, the feel of it ... and the permanence of it," he says. "I mash the clay between my hands until it feels smooth. It's a real sensory thing."
Reed has never sold any bowls, preferring to give them away. Still, he realized he was making too many bowls and wanted to donate them to a good cause. His search found Empty Bowls, turning his overproduction into a way to help the underfed.
“I give Empty Bowls about 250 bowls per year, and they sell them for $20 each at an annual fundraising event and donate that money to a soup kitchen or food pantry,” Reed says.
Empty Bowls was started in 1990 by the late John Hartom, a Michigan art teacher, as a classroom project to raise money. His students made bowls to serve soup at a fundraising event where attendees kept the empty bowls as a reminder that some community residents go hungry.
Today, Empty Bowls exists in nearly every state and internationally. All Empty Bowls projects and events are independent, but they share the same name and mission. Dallas-Fort Worth has other Empty Bowls groups.
Heidi Thiele, who helps run Empty Bowls of Denton, says the group donates all of the money it raises to Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen and Denton Community Food Center.
Last year, Empty Bowls of Denton donated $7,000 to the Denton Community Food Center, which paid for about 41,000 meals for hungry families, says Tom Newell, chairman of the board of the food pantry.
Signature touches
It takes Reed a few days to complete six bowls at a time. He adds glazes to some, carves designs onto others and inscribes whimsical musings or political phrases onto the bottom of each one.
“They’re so fun,” Thiele says. “We have so many people who come to the luncheon looking specifically for his work. They want to know what has Bill said this year. We call them ‘Bill Bowls.’”
Reed got the inscription idea from writing on ancient tablets found in the Middle East that reveal what life was like then. “My bowls will last thousands of years, and maybe someone will find them and read about us,” he says. He once wrote “All lies and jests, still a man hears what he wants to hear, and disregards the rest” from Simon & Garfunkel’s “The Boxer” on a bowl bottom.
Newell also happens to be a fan of Reed’s. “His bowls are interesting,” Newell says. “I’ve bought several of them because of the messages on the bottom.”
Sheryl Jean is a California-based freelance writer and former staff writer for The Dallas Morning News.
Details
For more information on an Empty Bowls event near you, go online to emptybowls.com.
