MORGANTOWN – Waste not, want not.
As many as 1 in 5 children across West Virginia go to bed with growling bellies every night.
That number comes from Feeding America, the national watchdog group – and it isn’t just about socioeconomic malaise in the mountains.
Said statistic is also indicative of a clinical condition related to the above.
The hunger pangs are because more and more households across West Virginia are experiencing food insecurity.
And when you’re food insecure, that means you’re literally not getting enough to eat, in order to sustain yourself, nutritionally.
Enter Empty Bowls Monongalia.
Empty Bowls is the organization that fights hunger and food insecurity across the county in ways that are verbal, visual and savory – all at once.
And it all starts with the aforementioned bowl. The aforementioned empty bowl.
Here’s how it works, just in case you aren’t familiar: Volunteers get together at pottery and ceramics studios to make those bowls, which are then painted in one-of-a-kind designs by a host of volunteers.
Kindergarten kids wield brushes.
So do senior citizens.
And every other willing and budding bowl artist, in-between.
When that part is done, you get to buy one – and then fill it and re-fill it – at the annual Empty Bowls Soup and Bread Luncheon.
The 2026 edition goes from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Saturday at the Hazel and J.W. Ruby Community Center in Mylan Park. Visit www.ebmon.org for ticket prices and other particulars.
“This is an important fundraiser for us,” said Jasmine Smithbauer, who is executive of Empty Bowls Monongalia. “And everybody loves it.”
In the beginning days of 2026, her organization already has been able to donate some $145,000 to 23 food pantries and kitchens working to keep people properly fed across Morgantown and Mon.
The annual luncheon has a lot to do with that, Smithbauer said.
Besides the altruistic motivation, you also get a great menu for every hankering and inclination, the executive director said.
You might even call it a Melting Pot for soup, she said.
There are the comfort-staples such as chicken noodle and beef stew, jazzed up by jambalaya, everyone’s regional fave this time of year.
And the slightly more esoteric ladlings of, say, lemongrass and tofu.
Fare from restaurant offerings to family recipes make the soup menu every year, Smithbauer said.
“And we’re adding a lot of new soups this year,” she said. “We’re excited. You’ll just have to come visit us at Mylan Park.”
What you won’t find there is … waste.
As in, garbage.
You know: trash cans – overflowing and spilling out.
Thank Empty Bowls volunteer Kim Shiemke for the dearth.
Shiemke taught science at the old St. Francis High School and across Mon County Schools before her retirement – “And you know how science teachers are,” she said, chuckling. “We’re all about recycling and composting.”
