"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." - H.D. Thoreau

The Macoskey Center has been a long-time partner of the Institute for Community Service Learning and NonProfit Leadership during their annual Empty Bowls Dinner in October of each year. The Empty Bowls Dinner is designed to raise hunger awareness in our area. The meal in meager, with a choice of two varieties of soup, bread and a beverage, which is designed to give attendees a feeling what it is like to be eating in a shelter. The Center is able to donate extra organic vegetables used in the preparation of soup served at the dinner. AmeriCorps volunteers from the Institute also use the Center's kitchen facilities for preparation of the vegetables for preservation. All ingredients for the soups are donated by local farmers in western Pennsylvania, most of which are organic.After dinner, everything is generally recycled in a Second Harvest. The paper and crayons are reused by art students, leftover food is donated to Katie's Kitchen (a local shelter) and other waste was composted, even the spoons were washed and will be reused next year.

Proceeds from the dinner then benefit the New Castle City Rescue Mission, the Butler Area Agency on Aging, and Feed My Sheep Food Cupboard in Slippery Rock.