Sunday, March 7, 5:30 p.m.
Immanuel Lutheran Church
303 N. Church St. , Silverton
According Feeding America, one in eight Americans is struggling with hunger.
To raise the awareness of hunger in the community, Silverton Area Community Aid is hosting the Empty Bowls Soup Dinner Sunday, March 7, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Immanuel Lutheran Church, 303 N. Church St., Silverton.
A nonprofit agency, SACA provides food and emergency assistance to families residing in the Silver Falls School District.
Silverton High School senior Kat Stoltz is organizing the event as her senior project. She and a few friends have lightheartedly mused about starting a soup kitchen one day. So when it came time to choose her senior project, volunteering to organize the Empty Soup Bowls Dinner was the “perfect excuse to do something that I already wanted to pursue.
“The Empty Bowls Soup Dinner, for me, is more than just senior project,” Stoltz said. “Because, when you look around the world today, you see so many problems. To say that it is all ‘overwhelming’ is an insufficient understatement. But we are naive and frankly, selfish, if we think that we, as a local community, can do nothing positive for the world. One person does not wield enough power to solve problems on a different continent: but God is understanding of this – there are people in need just next door.”
From Jan. 1 to Feb. 19, SACA provided more than $23,000 in emergency financial assistance for rent, utilities, medical and gas vouchers. This represents more than 40 percent of the annual budge for the nonprofit agency. Food was given to more than 300 families – a total of more than 1,150 individuals.
“We are seeing people asking for assistance who have never asked before,” said Dixon Bledsoe, SACA executive director. “While the reasons people visit SACA for assistance vary from medical bills to unemployment, the need is always the same – they are seeking some hope and guidance to get back on their feet.”
Bledsoe encourages the community to attend the Empty Bowls Soup Dinner to learn more about hunger in Silverton and to celebrate how the community works together to help neighbors in need.
“If it weren’t for the generous support of the community, SACA wouldn’t exist,” Bledsoe said. “We are fortunate to live in a place where people care about one another and understand the importance of caring for families in need.”
