A special thank you to the more than 200 people who attended Empty Bowls last Friday, where we celebrated food programs and raised funds to help sustain three important programs in Ashland.

Funding recipients include Uncle Food’s Diner, Peace House’s 30-year-old free meal program, Food Angels, an all volunteer food access hub,  Monday Meals, and Jobs With Justice’s community meal and resource program.

As people arrived for an early and simple dinner of donated soup, artisan breads and home made cookies, elaborate jazz piano was performed by Adam Schrubbe,  a dedicated Uncle Food’s Diner volunteer and highly skilled and justice-oriented musician. Hand crafted bowls were filled with soup by our Celebrity Servers, and short speeches were presented by Herb Rothschild, Elizabeth V. Hallett, State Rep. Pam Marsh, among others.

We appreciate our community’s continued generosity in their compassionate support for lifeline and emergency food access. Special thanks to the dozens of volunteers, Food Angels clean up crew, the Ashland United Methodist Church, Adam Schrubbe, Elizabeth V. Hallett, Joe Russell, Alan Hallmark, Maren Faye Catering, the restaurants and bakeries who donated, and event coordinator Herb Rothschild.

Businesses who donated included C Street Bistro, Simple Café, Rise Up Breads, Maren Faye Catering, La Baguette, Village Baker, Philippe the Baker, Sawaddee, and Uncle Food’s Diner.