Sharing Center continues to serve families

    Murphy – Bowls remained empty on March 21, when John C. Campbell Folk School had to postpone Empty Bowls, the annual fundraising event that benefits the Cherokee County Sharing Center and Clay County Food Bank.
    “It’s sad. It was one of our biggest fundraisers,” said Sande Kimball, president of the board of directors of the Sharing Center food pantry.
    She was unsure how the postponement would affect the food bank financially. They may need to cut back on some of the extra items the food bank supplies with those funds, but she assured they would continue serving the community.
    “It’s very important that people who are in need of food do not go hungry,” Kimball said.“We’ll do what we have to do … There’s always a way.”
    The Sharing Center receives assistance from both MANNA and the Emergency Food Assistance Program, as well as community donations of funds and items. It serves about 425 families
a month. Volunteers are from local churches, primarily St. William Catholic Church, Reids Chapel United Methodist Church, Shepherd of the Mountains and First United Methodist Church.
    On Tuesday and Friday, volunteers help families through the Sharing Center during its regular operating hours of 1-3 p.m.
    However, there were a few changes. Instead of letting people in the lower floor of First United Methodist Church to “shop” for food items, they pulled through the parking lot as a drive-through. Volunteers gathered information near the entrance, then gave the family a ticket to give to volunteers on the other end of the lot. Those volunteers pre-boxed food with amounts for different family sizes and loaded them into the vehicles for each family.
    Volunteers said the new process went smoothly.
    “It was success,” Kimball said. “We have a great group of volunteers.”
    She is hopeful the folk school will be able to reschedule Empty Bowls.
    “We’re asking people to hold on your tickets,” Kimball said.
    Tickets for Empty Bowls sell out quickly every year, and ticket-holders start lining up early on the paths of the folk school campus to have the best selection of locally handcrafted bowls to choose from. The event includes a Brown Bag Raffle to raise additional funds, and a meal of soup, bread, salad and dessert.
    Extra handcrafted bowls are often sold to help raise additional funds, and some people provide in-kind donations. Last year, the folk school was able to split a total of $11,000 between the two food banks.
    This year, 168 tickets were sold at $35 each for the event. Josh Floyd, event and volunteer coordinator for the folk school, he was disheartened they had to postpone the event, but felt it was the responsible thing to do considering U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention guidelines.
    “The whole point of the event is to bring the community together,” Floyd said.
    He encouraged ticket holders consider the purchase a donation. If it is not possible to reschedule Empty Bowls, Floyd said
the folk school would be happy to figure out a way for ticket holders to pick
up bowls and provide a donation to the two food banks.
    Kimball said financial, food and paper product donations are always welcomed. She asked that donors check expiration dates on any food items they wish to donate since they cannot give out expired food.
    For details, call Kimball at 835-7274 or make a financial donation to the center at P.O. Box 692, Murphy, NC 28906.