Rainy Empty Bowls drive-through raises nearly $8K for hunger
Brownwood Bulletin
Community members responded on a rainy Thursday to Good Samaritan Ministries’ Empty Bowl Project, generating nearly $8,000 in the drive-through event for the organization’s seven hunger ministries.
That amount did not include the additional funds that would be raised at Saturday’s special sale at the Good Samaritan Ministries (GSM) Resale Store.
For $10 donations, participants in Thursday’s event received a ceramic campfire bowl and chose coupons from one of 14 area restaurants.
GSM Executive Director Leesa Stephens said the amount raised Thursday is close to the funds raised in previous years when the event was held at the Brownwood Coliseum. This year and in 2020, Empty Bowls was changed to a drive-through event because of COVID.
Good Samaritan Ministries volunteers distribute restaurant coupons to donors who picked up a bowl during Thursday Empty Bowls event. [Photo by Derrick Stuckly]Rain did not dampen the enthusiasm nor the turn out for Good Samaritan Ministries’ 12
th annual Empty Bowls Project, which for the second year in a row is being held as a drive-through event.
“When we started right before 11 a.m. we had cars lined up so the rain did not deter a lot folks,” GSM Executive Director Leesa Stephens said Thursday morning. “In Texas we never turn down rain. You plan an outdoor event and it’s usually a 95 percent chance that it won’t rain. But today we had a downpour and we always figure God knows what we need and when we need it. We’ll dry out.”
Rain did not dampen the enthusiasm nor the turn out for Good Samaritan Ministries’ 12
th annual Empty Bowls Project, which for the second year in a row is being held as a drive-through event.
“When we started right before 11 a.m. we had cars lined up so the rain did not deter a lot folks,” GSM Executive Director Leesa Stephens said Thursday morning. “In Texas we never turn down rain. You plan an outdoor event and it’s usually a 95 percent chance that it won’t rain. But today we had a downpour and we always figure God knows what we need and when we need it. We’ll dry out.”
The Donation Center, an important part of the Resale Store Ministry, celebrated its first anniversary on January 15.
The Donation Center located at 200 West Chandler accepts and processes non-food donations for Good Samaritan. The Center handles and sorts over 50,000 pounds of items such as clothing, linens, shoes and housewares each month. The Donation Center staff unloads an average of 30 cars each day. While the majority of donated items make their way into the GSM Resale Store, items not utilized locally are shared with other charities, specifically Charity Shoes, an international relief organization from Dallas and Arms of Hope supporting the Medina Children’s Home.