Organization: House of Hope
Annual Event: Empty Supper Bowl
Role: Painter
Period: March 2022 to Present (seasonal)

Every year, the House of Hope hosts its Empty Supper Bowl event to raise funds, offering attendees the chance to acquire a bowl and enjoy a serving of soup. During a Leadership Class organized by the Chamber of Commerce, we had the opportunity to visit Explore Art & Clay – Paint Your Own Pottery & Clay Studio. It was there that I learned about their involvement in crafting the bowls for the event and the need for volunteers to paint them. In a delightful twist of fate, I discovered that the studio owner’s daughter pursued a similar major to mine (Industrial Design Technology) at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh.

Since then, I’ve become a regular visitor to the studio, attending workshops and engaging in pottery painting. It seems serendipitous that many of the bowls feature Corgis, a breed close to my heart, prompting me to often select and purchase them for myself.

I’ve had so much fun with this event that I’ve gotten other community organizations involved: I bring paint to the organization, provide instructions, and bring the bowls back to be fired.