Peterborough’s Empty Bowls fundraiser is evolving — but still supporting local food charities

Early every Saturday morning, local creatives gather at the Kawartha Potters’ Guild to work on their personal ceramic projects. This month, their stations are lined with bowls of all different shapes and sizes, colours and styles. Some potters sit at the wheel to throw their next vessel, while others trim, glaze, or gouge designs as they apply finishing touches.

This February, their bowls will once again help raise money for local food charities. Artisans at the Guild donate their time and materials every winter to support the Empty Bowls fundraiser, rolling up their sleeves to craft hundreds of bowls for the event.

“I love to make things, and I like to donate in this way, because I think it’s really important for our community,” said Kawartha Potters’ Guild founding member Cathy Allen. 

Allen has taken part in the local Empty Bowls fundraiser since its inception more than 20 years ago. The event is part of an international movement of grassroots food charity fundraisers where local artisans craft bowls and then donate them to support the cause.

Here in Peterborough, the local YWCA branch has traditionally spearheaded the annual campaign. Last year, almost 200 guests attended the event, which featured food donated by 15 local restaurants. In addition to a meal, each attendee gets to take home one of the handcrafted bowls. This year’s event is on February 21.

Traditionally, Empty Bowls has raised money for Nourish, a food program delivered by the YWCA. For years, Nourish has provided low-cost boxes of fresh food to local families in need and offered cooking workshops and other food-based community initiatives in and around Peterborough.

However, the YWCA recently decided to wind up Nourish. “The continued lack of sustainable, annualized funding has led to the decision to end the Nourish program at the YWCA,” a press release stated.

In an interview with Currents, the YWCA’s executive director Kim Dolan said Nourish’s food action programs helped people “come together in really beautiful, collaborative, community ways.”

“There have been some really beautiful initiatives, and they’re important,” Dolan said. And yet, “they weren’t moving the dial on making the kind of broad-scale systemic change that we really need to see,” she said.

The Nourish program might be going away, but hunger isn’t. Peterborough Public Health’s most recent food insecurity report found that “incomes are failing to meet the rising costs of basic needs and folks are now, more than ever, missing meals or reducing food intake due to cost.”

The report stated that about one-in-five local households faced food insecurity between 2021 and 2023 and argued that income-based solutions such as higher social assistance rates are needed to address the issue.

So with the need still very present, Empty Bowls is continuing, but shifting to support two different charities: Kawartha Food Share and One City Peterborough’s food program, which serves meals to unhoused community members at the Trinity Community Centre.

Sue Flanagan is a board member with both the YWCA and the Potters’ Guild. She said when the YWCA approached the Guild to ask if its members could lead the fundraiser moving forward, they agreed. “This is the Guild’s number one fundraising event,” Flanagan said. “Obviously our board at the Potters’ Guild is invested in this. They want it to go forward.”

The YWCA will step back from its role as the primary organizer of the event, but will continue to help out in 2025 and 2026, Flanagan said. She expressed appreciation that the YWCA is continuing to help organize Empty Bowls even though the proceeds are now going elsewhere. “That’s just how great the YWCA is,” she said.

But the Potters’ Guild is on the hunt for new partners to help organize and promote the event in the future. “We’ll see how this morphs,” Flanagan mused.

Back at the Potters’ Guild, Cathy Allen continues working on her bowl. She uses a sharp tool to carve long wavy grooves and small round divots into the outer layer of her clay dish. Later, she’ll use a special glaze to make the designs pop with colour.

“It’s nice to know that my pieces will be used and in someone else’s home,” she says. “And they can enjoy knowing that they’ve spent money on a ticket that’s helping the community.”

“The Guild does a really great job of being inclusive and providing additional training to its members during the Empty Bowls process,” adds Guild member Erica Arkell. She explains that there are extra workshops and instruction around this time of year to support newer members in crafting their bowls for the fundraiser.

“It’s been awesome meeting new people and challenging myself to learn something new,” says Gwekaanmad Pitawanakwat of Wiikwemkoong and Lac Seul First Nation, who joined the Guild about six months ago. “I think pottery has taught me to let go of my perfectionistic tendencies, because you make a lot of mistakes but the clay can be reused, and you learn something from everything.” So far, Pitawanakwat has made a handful of dishes for this year’s event.

Tickets are on sale now for the 2025 Empty Bowls fundraiser, held at The Venue on Friday, February 21 from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Guests will get to choose one hand-crafted bowl to take home, and can enjoy a meal on-site served by one of the seven participating local restaurants. Admission costs $75 per person.

Peterborough Currents is a media sponsor of the 2025 Empty Bowls fundraiser. As part of our in-kind sponsorship, we agreed to write this article and provide free advertising to help promote the event. Currents produced this article independently and did not share it with event organizers before publishing.