Last week, a few dozen people gathered at Knack Brewing in Kankakee to prepare for the upcoming Empty Bowls. Empty Bowls is an international event that takes place around Thanksgiving to raise money for area food pantries.

This is the second year that the event will be in Kankakee County. It’s hosted by Katie Bretzlaff and her art studio, Hedgeapple Arts located at Asbury Church on Harrison Avenue. The event is set for Nov. 13 in the auditorium of the church. Attendees buy a ticket to enjoy a soup dinner with dessert, and all the food is donated by local restaurants, allowing all the ticket proceeds to go towards the food pantries. Additionally, all the servers at the event are volunteers.

Six restaurants from around the county donate the soups, and diners have the option of one large portion of one soup or a “soup flight” where they try smaller portions of three soups.

For just the dinner, tickets cost $15. But for $30, diners also get a souvenir reminder of what the event is about.

“[Attendees can] take an empty bowl home with them as a reminder of people who go without [food],” Bretzlaff said during the event at Knack, where attendees had the opportunity to hand paint the bowls made by Momence-based ceramicist Courtney Zimmerman.

Zimmerman then will take the bowls back to her studio to fire in the kiln, and then they’ll be available for ticket holders at the November event.

Last year, the inaugural Empty Bowls raised just over $7,000. The project is in partnership with United Way of Kankakee and Iroquois Counties.

I attended last year and am looking forward to attending again this year to support something so needed. For information and to purchase tickets, go to Empty Bowls: Kankakee County on Facebook or visit hedgeapplearts.com/empty-bowls.