A luncheon next week will serve soup to raise money for area agencies that help the food insecure.

This will be the 13th year for the Hunger Coalition’s Empty Bowls luncheon. The Hunger Coalition is made up of InterServ, Open Door Food Kitchen, Catholic Charities and Second Harvest Community Food Bank.

Marsha Rosenthal with the Hunger Coalition said Second Harvest supplies InterServ, Open Door Food Kitchen and more with commodities for the over 51,000 food insecure individuals in the area. Over 16,000 of those individuals are children. Rosenthal said food insecurity affects people in all walks of life and situations.

“You can be a member of the working poor, meaning you do work but your salary is very low, you can be homeless, you can be a senior citizen who has to make a decision between paying for their medicine or eating, which is a sad state of affairs,” Rosenthal said. “All of these people have a hard time. We have children who take part in the free meal program in the schools and we have adults who go without eating so their children will eat when they’re at home.”

The Empty Bowls luncheon will be held from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, April 24th, at the Wyatt Park Baptist Church. Admission is $25 per person. Local restaurants will showcase their signature soups at the luncheon and everyone can vote for their  favorite.

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