How could you not love a bowl of soup and cornbread?

Today, March 10, was the Empty Bowl Project, which is an annual fund-raiser presented by the Anchorage Clay Arts Guild for Bean's Cafe. It's held at the Egan Center. For $20 you get to choose a bowl handcrafted by local potters and taste two different types of soup, accompanied by cornbread, butter and honey.

A friend of mine, the Purple Haze, and I have gone together for a few years. Her daughter and some of her friends were joining us. The Haze and I got in and chose our bowls, got them all wrapped up and taste-tested the soup. Hobbs wanted a bowl, too, and so we got a ticket (and a bowl) for him. There was a vegetarian type, a black bean, lentil chili, that really wasn't too bad, and a moose stew, made with beef. It was a pretty good soup. So we got a good meal, some beautiful bowls and some good visiting in. The girls showed up later and so we had more good company.

The Empty Bowl Project started in 1994 with 400 bowls, and now potters make about 2,000 bowls for the event. The announcer said this was the 18^th year for the Empty Bowl Project, and it's raised about a million dollars. A million bucks is a pretty penny for an organization that is currently serving 400 people two meals a day right now. 800 meals. Can you imagine cooking that much food each day?

The bowls I chose this year were exceptionally lovely.  I found them at the very first table, picked them up and never turned loose of them.  Mine is the flowered one; Hobbs's is the other.

The Bean's Cafe founders, Leesie “Bean” Ballew and her mom, Lynn, first arrived in Anchorage in a blue pick up truck with a camper named “Tucker” driving from Boston. Bean had her toys, books, and even what they considered a cafe in the back of truck, making sandwiches for her mom as they drove up the highway. She'd tell her mom when the cafe was open for business, she'd take her order, make the sandwich and give it to her mom, being sure to include a bill that said, “Bean's Cafe thanks you for your business.” And that was the first Bean's Cafe.

The second year Bean and her mom came to stay. Bean's mom had volunteered with a soup kitchen in Boston and she was determined to give Anchorage a place for its street people to eat, rest, read, shower, watch TV, make phone calls or just relax. And she would name it Bean's Cafe. In 1979 Bean's Cafe became a reality in a little empty warehouse near the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Anchorage. By 1985 Bean's had outgrown the location and moved to a new space down over the hill on Third Avenue near Post Road.

For a complete history, check out the web site at http://beanscafe.org/about/history/

I've given to Bean's Cafe for years through my former employer, Chugach Electric, and United Way. Interestingly, I was a loaned executive two different years for a month at a time to United Way and once received a tour of Bean's. You could eat off the floor, everything had a place and was in its place, shiney and ready for the next use. It's pantry was huge, and exceptionally orderly. I've also helped deliver turkeys during the holidays (through my former employer), and the people who work there or are clients there have never been anything other than courteous and grateful.

It's a great organization doing great work.