10/2/2003

Contact: K.E. Schwab  -- 724-738-2199;  e-mail: karl.schwab@sru.edu

SRU’S SUCCESSFUL ‘EMPTY BOWLS’ PROGRAM EXPANDED TO INCLUDE LUNCH

          SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. – Increased attendance and repeated requests to expand the university community’s chance to participate have led organizers of the annual Slippery Rock University “Empty Bowls” project to add a noontime lunch to this year’s fund and awareness raising project.

          The program, which provides support to the Slippery Rock Feed My Sheep Food Cupboard and the Butler County Area Agency on Aging, will be held Oct. 13 in the University Union. Lunch will be served from 11:30 a.m. to1 p.m., with dinner seating offered at 5 and 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for non-students. The program is working to raise $5,000 to support the two charities.

          Organized by the university’s Institute for Community, Service-Learning and Nonprofit Leadership as a way of spotlighting the hunger needs of America, the program is now in its eighth year. Traditionally the project has drawn hundreds of participants.

          Organizers point out 228,000 Pennsylvanians live in households suffering from hunger with 40 percent of that number made up of children; 28 percent of seniors report they have to choose between buying food and buying needed medicine; and it is noted that hungry children suffer two to four times as many health problems as those who are better fed.

          The program is also supported by SRU’s art students who handcraft hundreds of ceramic bowls that participants take home at the end of the meal as a reminder of the nation’s hunger problem.

          The meal includes soup made from items donated by local farms and merchants, bread and beverage with entertainment provided. Pre-event tickets are available at a number of locations, including campus residence halls, the University Union, University Bookstore, Slippery Rock True Value and at the door on Oct. 13.

PN, PgN, WPN, PR, PT