PUTNEY — It may not be obvious walking down Brattleboro's Main Street, but an increasing number of area residents are unable to afford the most basic necessities of food and housing.
For the seventh consecutive year, Brattleboro Clayworks and Landmark College are working together to address this growing need, by sponsoring the Empty Bowls Dinner to benefit the Brattleboro Area Drop-in Center, a day shelter providing an emergency food shelf, overnight shelter, and other support services.
This year's Empty Bowls dinner will take place on Saturday, Oct. 9, with two seatings at 5:00 and 6:30 p.m. in the dining hall at Landmark College in Putney. For a $20.00 donation, guests will be served a simple, nutritious meal of soup, bread, cheese, apples, beverage and dessert, and will enjoy live music.
Afterwards, participants are invited to keep the unique, handcrafted bowl they have chosen as a reminder that while they may have enough to eat, there are many who go hungry each day in our community and throughout the world. All proceeds are donated to the Brattleboro Area Drop-In Center.
Hunger is on the rise in Vermont and the Drop-in Center is one of Windham County's primary safety nets. According to the The Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger, 1 in 6 Vermont children and more than 1 in 8 Vermont households are food insecure.
Locally, the need is certainly evident: Windham County saw a 43 percent increase in 3SquaresVT (formerly known as food stamps) participation over last year.
This past winter alone 9,395 people were served by the Drop-in Center's food shelf. The Center's overflow shelter provided 2,822 bed nights of shelter as well as 5,644 hot meals to individuals, the working poor, young people who have aged out of the foster care system, and families with young children. These numbers represent an alarming increase of 31 percent over the previous winter.
The Empty Bowls Dinner is the single largest fundraiser for the Drop-In Center. Tickets are $20. For reservations, call 800-852-4286, ext. 108. You can also donate directly to the Drop-in Center; for information, go to brattleborodropin.org.