Soup Bowl Benefit 2012

18th Annual Soup Bowl Benefit - Sunday, February 19, 2012.

Hoosier Hill Food Bank Celebrates 30 years in Service to Monroe and Surrounding Counties.

Details:About 18 years ago, a small group of organizers held the first Soup Bowl Benefit in the basement of St. Paul's and raised a few thousand dollars for the Hoosier Hills Food Bank (HHFB). This year the 18th annual Soup Bowl Benefit for the Hoosier Hills Food Bank will be held at the Monroe County Convention Center at 5pm on Sunday, February 19, 2012. Nearly 700 attendees will experience what every sell-out event has featured to date: a smorgasbord of beautiful handmade bowls, tasty soups and bread from over 25 local restaurants and great local entertainment.  

Tickets will be available January 9, 2012, for $25 in advance at all 3 Bloomingfoods stores, Yarns Unlimited and HHFB. Attendees with a regular ticket receive a handmade bowl, soup, bread and beverages. Children's tickets for paper bowls will be available at the door on the day of the event for $6. The event will feature a special musical performances by Ladies First, Monika Herzig, and Hogwire. The event will be co-hosted by WFIU's Joe Bourne.

For further ticket or other information, please call 334-8374.

Background: The Soup Bowl Benefit has become a staple event in Bloomington over the past two decades and has grown to provide the largest contribution to the HHFB's annual operating budget. Recent events have raised over $75,000 to HHFB, and this year is set to be equally fruitful. HHFB is in a time of great need with hunger on the rise throughout Indiana, as in much of the rest of the country, and resources being stretched thin. In November, 2012, HHFB will celebrate its 30th anniversary since opening in Bloomington in 1982.

Community Support: The success of the Soup Bowl Benefit can be credited to the wide participation of the Bloomington arts, business and larger communities: potters donate over 600 handmade bowls each year; over a dozen restaurants donate tasty soup; several bakeries donate hearty bread and cookies; local businesses donate door prizes and cash contributions; musicians donate their time and talents; artists donate decorations; dozens of people donate their time to make the event run smoothly; and over 600 people buy tickets and attend the benefit each year.  Sponsorships are available.

For the past 30 years, the Hoosier Hills Food Bank has been a primary source of food for hungry families in Bloomington and six surrounding counties. The Food Bank serves as the central clearinghouse for restaurants, grocery stores, manufacturers, farmers, and food distributors. It provides over a hundred local non-profit organizations with food to support programs that benefit ill people, needy families, children, and senior citizens. Low-income day care centers, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and emergency food pantries use Food Bank products to feed some 15,000 people every month.

The Soup Bowl Benefit is one part of an expanding network of benefit events known in various locations as the Empty Bowls Project ; a world-wide grassroots effort to bring communities together to fight hunger.

Its roots: The idea for the Bloomington event originated with Carrie Newcomer and Robert Meitus, who participated in a similar community gathering during their travels as touring musicians in the early 1990's. Pulling together a small, but mighty contingent of artists and other friends, they set the wheels in motion to bring the simple, yet elegant idea of the Soup Bowl to Bloomington 12 years ago.

If you have questions about the Hoosier Hills Food Bank, please contact Dan Taylor, 334-8374 or e-mail hhfb@hhfoodbank.org

Here are Steven Wallace's photos from Soup Bowl 2007

Here are a few pictures from Soup Bowl 2005, 2004, 2003, and 2001

Click here to see a few of the Soup Bowl Benefit Potters at work