Austin High School students are serving soup and baking bowls for a good cause: to raise awareness of local and global food needs.

AHS students in the National Honor Society, Jovenes de Valor, CHAI, Art Club and CORE are banding together to put on an Empty Bowls Soup Supper on March 20, where residents can get a simple meal for a small donation which goes to the local Salvation Army Food Shelf and Meal Program.

“I feel that food is one of the biggest problems that our nation currently has,” said Max Gillen, an NHS officer. “Half our school is on free and reduced lunches.”

The event is based on an international movement where people are invited to eat a basic meal and take home a handcrafted bowl as a reminder of the empty bowls of starving people around the world. When Art Club Adviser Barry Brobeck asked NHS Adviser Sharon Alms to have the groups come together on a service project, Alms thought of Empty Bowl events she’d heard about and approached NHS students about organizing a fundraiser.

“It’s perfectly suited for us,” Brobeck said. “It’s really good for the kids. It’s a real positive event.”

Students from the Art Club have worked over the past three months to make more than 200 bowls for the event with clay purchased by CHAI. Although the event is less than two weeks away, students are still busy firing up the kiln to make even more bowls, which will all be given away at the supper.

“We’re reaching out our hands,” said Thao Doan, AHS senior and Art Club member. “We’re going to make these bowls just to brighten up (another person’s) day.”

The Empty Bowls Soup Supper takes place from 4:30 to 7 p.m. Sunday, March 20 at St. Olaf Lutheran Church. Residents will be served one of a variety of soups and bread. Guests will also select a bowl to take home as a reminder of world hunger. A silent auction will be held for two bowls made by AHS teacher John Sullivan. Tickets are $7 and all proceeds go to the Salvation Army.