Canton Schools Support Efforts to Feed the Hungry

Submitted release 

Third and fourth graders from Cherry Brook School and Canton Intermediate School as well as staff from across the district have molded, glazed and fired bowls made from white body clay.  Those bowls will be on display as the Canton Schools support the Empty Bowls efforts by hosting an event on Tuesday, April 3 at Canton Intermediate School. Empty Bowls is an international effort to help fight hunger. 

The concept is a simple one: people in the community create handcrafted bowls and guests are invited to a simple meal of soup and bread. One hundred percent of the proceeds from the suggested donation of $5 per student and $7 per adult are split between the Canton Food Bank and Gifts of Love. The first Empty Bowls event in Canton was held in 2010 and raised $2,400. 

Art specialists Deb Lang-Beaudoin and Ellen Raposo have worked with students and staff to create these works of art. The art teachers said it was great to bring this concept to Canton. While students are not required to volunteer or attend the event, they are taught the meaning behind the bowls.

“It was a great lesson for the kids to give back,” Raposo, art specialist at Cherry Brook, said about the effort two years ago.

And Lang-Beaudoin said the students do understand the meaning behind the project.

“At this level, they understand,” she said.

And so many students and their families do get involved, Lang-Beaudoin added.

Local restaurants from Canton, Simsbury and Avon have all generously donated soup, bread and supplies for the event.  Restaurants include Rice Fields, Dish n Dat, Flatbread, Village Café, Crown and Hammer, Buon Appetito, De Capo, Amici Grill, Puerto Vallarta, Cosi’s, New England Pasta Co., Fabiloa’s, First and Last Tavern, Iron Frog, Abigail’s, and Antonio’s.