Catholic Charities of the Finger Lakes will hold its annual fundraisers Hoedown for Hunger and Empty Bowls in September and October, respectively.
Hoedown for Hunger will be held Wednesday, Sept. 9, at 5 p.m. at Geneva on the Lake, 1001 Lochland Road (Route 14), Geneva. Tickets are $35 per person and include back-yard barbecue grazing stations and a signature drink. Music will be provided by Rick Hoyt and the Cool Club Quintet, and the evening’s special guest caller will be Bob Nicholson.
Proceeds from this event will benefit Catholic Charities of the Finger Lakes’ Community Lunch Program, which serves close to 14,000 meals each year to people in the city of Geneva. The program serves lunch from 11:45 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Monday through Friday at Geneva’s First United Methodist Church, located at 340 Main St.
Volunteers for the program are always welcome. For details on volunteering, contact Connie Sullivan at 315-789-2686, ext. 105, or at 315-521-6684.
Empty Bowls will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 15, at Our Lady of Peace Parish Center, Center Street, Geneva, and from 5 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 22, at Sacred Heart Church, 90 Melrose Road, Auburn.
Empty Bowls began in a Michigan high-school classroom and has become a popular event to raise awareness of the effects of hunger and food insecurity.
The local Empty Bowls events will feature a soup supper served in pottery bowls that participants will take home with them as a reminder that hunger does exist in their communities.
Bowls for the event were made by members of the Rochester Folk Art Guild, who hosted a "bowl throwing party" in August at the guild’s pottery shop in Middlesex. Art students from area high schools and colleges also will contribute bowls that they have created.
Tickets for the event are $20 for adults and $10 for children under age 12. Proceeds will be used for programs serving vulnerable children and families in Ontario, Seneca, Yates and Cayuga counties.
To register for either event, visit Catholic Charities of the Finger Lakes’ website, catholiccharitiesfl.org. For more information on either event, contact Rhonda Zettlemoyer at 315-789-2686, ext. 104, or rzettlem@dor.org.
