Although eighth graders at Marlton Middle School (MMS recently hosted a fundraiser called Empty Bowls, their school certainly wasn’t empty. ‘Classroom Close-up, NJ’ memorialized the special day by filming the event, which will air on its program March 6 and April 10.
MMS’ second annual Empty Bowls fundraiser was organized by two classes each of eighth-grade students in family and consumer science (FACS) and sculpture elective classes on Dec. 18. It was the culminating event of an interdisciplinary project focused on service learning; in this case, the students aimed to help end hunger and raise awareness of the issue.
Sculpture students in Kate Sampson’s classes made a whopping 180 bowls in the weeks leading up to the event, while FACS students in Joanne Wiest’s classes made gallons upon gallons of nine different soups and rolls. Each student then invited one paying guest who ate soup from a ceramic bowl, which they took home as a reminder of all the empty bowls in the world.
The event raised more than $2,030 for the Food Bank of South Jersey, surpassing the school’s goal. Holiday music to accompany the event was provided by Sampson’s mother Mary, a retired Evesham Township School District music teacher.
The event was all was captured on film by NJ-TV’s crew for a special “Empty Bowls” episode of “Classroom Close-up, NJ.”
The show will feature MMS’ event on March 6 and April 10 at 7:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m., and 7:30 p.m. Most Marlton-area viewers can watch on channel 23. The segment also will be available online after March 6 at www.classroomcloseup.org.
Two students, as well as Wiest, Sampson, a parent of a FACS student, and a representative from the Food Bank of South Jersey were interviewed by the television crew.
“I like that I’m going to be on television, that’s pretty cool. I was very nervous beforehand, but it went better than I thought,” said DJ Major, an eighth-grader who participated in the project and was interviewed by NJ-TV’s crew. “I feel like everything with the event went pretty well. It’s important to do this because you get to help people just by doing something you like — like art — and that’s awesome.”
Tessa Iandoli, another eighth-grader who was involved in the fundraiser and interviewed by the crew, said a lot of money was donated and everyone enjoyed themselves.
“I was chosen to be interviewed by Mrs. Wiest, because she said that whenever she mentions helping other people, I’m always willing,” Iandoli said. “I was very nervous, but my friends calmed me down, and now I’m proud of myself that I was able to keep calm. It felt good.”
The Empty Bowls Project is an international organization that aims to serve simple meals of soup and bread to guests in handcrafted bowls, which are then sent home with attendees as a reminder of all the empty bowls in the world. Wiest and Sampson decided to make the fundraiser an annual event at MMS after the success of their 2014 fundraiser.
Classroom Close-up, NJ is a co-production of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) and NJ-TV, with additional funding provided by PSE&G. The “Empty Bowls” episode is part of the show’s twenty-second season. Each half-hour program features innovative programs going on in public school classrooms and how caring professionals inspire and motivate students.
