Benefit raises money for family network

For just $10 a person on Friday, April 20, 140 folks from Sisters ate a delicious soup dinner, received a hand-crafted ceramic bowl and enjoyed first class entertainment.

And they added around $3,000 to the Family Access Network's emergency fund.

As patrons arrived, they each had the opportunity to choose their bowls. One hundred and forty bowls of different sizes, shapes, and colors had been created specifically for this event, many by local potters such as Mitch Deaderick and Cheryl Guggenheim.

Others had been crafted by art teacher Mike Baynes and his students.

The bowls were filled with a nutritious soup, with two delicious choices cooked up by Janice Comfort and her culinary art class. The evening's tasty offerings were a homestyle chicken noodle soup and a tomato vegetable pasta soup.

The meal was served by the Aid Association of Lutherans and student volunteers.

Baynes kicked off the event with a reference to Empty Bowls' origins as a community aid effort.

"This project was developed by smart teachers in Michigan," said Baynes. "Bringing it to Sisters was a collaboration of folks. My students are a big part of Empty Bowls being a Sisters tradition."

Theresa Slavkovsky, director of FAN, then gave a brief description of her organization:

"FAN is a social service for our Sisters school district. We serve 55 to 70 families a year," she explained. "This past year we've spent $6,700 helping families in this community.

"We have a lot of seasonal families here, and a cut back in hours and pay can quickly spiral a family down," she noted.

Door prizes, mostly designer bowls, were awarded throughout the evening. Jody Henderson and Brad Tisdel introduced several Americana Project students who delighted the audience with their folksy performances.

"This is going to be an annual event to keep our emergency fund at a sufficient level to assist families in Sisters," said Slavkovsky.

Theresa's daughter, Mary, helped plan and emcee the event.

"It's not a lot of work with everyone's cooperation," she explained. "We had a lot of help from students, they brought in a lot of the stuff we used in the silent auction.

"We got together as classes and talked about hunger; each class was responsible for a different gift basket," she said.

The gift baskets catered to a wide variety of interests, including golf, gardening, and cooking. Between the ticket sales, gift baskets, and money donated by the AAL, the event raised over $3,000.