Winter is traditionally a time of scarcity. Whether we’re hibernating like the bears or just slowing down waiting for the sun to make its appearance again on a more regular basis; winter is a time to rethink and restore.

But spring is here! — the forsythias are blooming and, on the ends of all those trimmed stems of my hydrangea, new leaves are sprouting. It’s time to wake up and replenish ourselves to get ready for the summer days ahead.

Soup and bread

So it’s fitting that those empty bowls be filled. And the folks at the Ocean Park Family Worship Center are stepping up to the challenge again. Last week I spoke with Lisa Schaffer, who is in charge of this effort. The Empty Bowls event has been going on for nearly 15 years. Some of you may remember it took place over most of those years at the Church Center in Long Beach, but four or so years ago… well, let’s let Lisa tell the story.

“We’ve had the empty bowls event for four years. We got it from another church that was closing because of their attrition. They had decided to dissolve, but since the event had been going on for so long and was such a terrific success, they called us. They came to us and said ‘We can’t imagine the event going away — would you guys be interested in taking it over?’ We talked it over here and we thought that’s right up our alley! We’re always wanting to do things that help our community, so our church decided to take it on.”

There couldn’t be a better individual to continue this tradition. Lisa moved here full-time with her husband Jim, whose family were long-term Peninsula residents. “We had property across from Chen’s,” he says. “My family built a house in the early 1900s, and Lisa and I bought property and used to vacation here with our RV. Now we’re both retired.” Jim is the finance officer at the church and Lisa has a background in events planning, so the two of them are a perfect team for the job.

As Lisa says, “I was the director of a chamber in my past life in Snoqualmie Valley, so I have lots of experience in events and planning like this. Empty Bowls is a fundraiser for Food4Kids backpack program and that’s a perfect charity to donate to. We really love them and know that it’s a worthwhile and well-run program.”

Empty Bowls takes place at the church, 26310 Ridge Ave. in Ocean Park, Saturday, April 12 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Here’s how it works: you show up, and for $15 for adults and $10 for kids up to 14 years old, you buy a ticket that allows you to pick out your very own handmade bowl. They you can fill it as many times as you like with homemade soups provided by our community restaurants and cafes. Grab some bread to go along with your soup. Then, even better, you get to keep that bowl!

“It’s all you can eat soup and bread,” says Lisa. “And these are gourmet offerings! Our Peninsula restaurants really stepped up for us. Drop Anchor, The Lost Roo, The Cove provide a wide range of soups, chowders and chili. Some are making more than one. We’ll have veggie and gluten-free options, too. And The Cove is also sponsoring a golf tournament on the same day and donating all their proceeds.”

But there’s more!

Live music: Janet Clark and her fiddle will be playing from 11-11:30 a.m. Then Villainous Things will play from 11:45 a.m. until 1:30 p.m. or so. Plus — and I think I missed this last year as I was sipping my chowder — there will also be a raffle and silent auction in an adjacent room of the church.

“We love the Peninsula and we love that the whole community gets involved,” Lisa continues. “Our artist community has really supported us too by donating all different kinds of art for both the silent auction and the raffle. Even businesses have donated coupons or gift cards or baskets of gifts.”

“We’ll have paintings, wood carvings, chain saw art and lots of gift baskets. Even my 83-year-old neighbor, Judith Prater, got involved again this year. She makes cement art — and this year she’s made a cement porpoise jumping out of the water, something you could put in your garden. Last year she made a whale and it took two guys to lift it. I think between Eric Wiegardt’s painting and Judith’s whale those were the two most popular items last year. Don Nesbitt, and so many others, also has art in our auction.”

The bowls

Then a couple days ago I went to the source of the matter — Bay Avenue Gallery has been hand throwing these “empty bowls” for decades. I spoke with Sue Raymond, gallery owner, and she filled me in.

“For years and years Karen Brownlee was making these bowls, over 150 of them. She worked with every child in our elementary school system to glaze and finish the bowls. Then for the last four years, we’ve been making them at the gallery.” Adjacent to the gallery in Ocean Park, there’s a building hustling and bustling with clay activity. The kiln is full of bowls to fire; the table is stacked with glazed bowls, as well as unglazed bowls ready for next steps; and other folks have arrived to begin their own hand-built projects.

This year Sue, Shelly Bridges and Lee Plympton are the main bowl makers and they’ve amassed 120 or more for the fundraising event. I ran into Shelly at the post office the other day and she alerted me to the fact that she is taking 50 of the pre-bisqued bowls to Ocean Park Elementary for the kids to glaze. “They love this,” Shelly says, “and they always ask me if they can keep their bowls. I take a picture of each one and give their parents first dibs, so they can buy the bowl with an empty bowl ticket ahead of time. I also want to say that Sue donates all the clay and the glazes to make this happen.”

On a table in the gallery are bowls ready for glazing. A few of them have already been finished by Taylor Marye Baker with lively North-coasty designs: waves, whales, porpoises and beach scenes. Some of these may be set aside for the silent auction portion of the event. Sue Rosselli is also a bowl maker; her style bowls are slightly larger noodle-sized and some of these may also be in the auction.

As always, I’m amazed about how this one fundraising event — like one of Taylor Marye’s octopuses — involves and engages so many different people in our community: from the event organizers and church members, to our local artists, chefs, bakers, soup makers, and even us at the newspaper. Now all we’re waiting for is your attendance. We are living proof — it takes a village.