CMC ceramics, culinary students provide bowls, soup to benefit Meals on Wheels
RIFLE – As a kickoff to this year’s 40th anniversary of Grand River Meals on Wheels, two entities in the Rifle community are preparing to raise funds while providing students opportunities to use their artistic and culinary skills for a worthy cause.
Organizers are busy preparing for the March for Meals “Empty Bowls” Luncheon on March 2 at Grand River Health’s conference center. The fundraiser – which provides a handcrafted bowl to keep, unlimited soup tastings to fill and refill it, bread and beverages in exchange for a $30 donation – raises money for the Grand River Meals on Wheels program. It’s being coordinated by staff from Grand River Health, and faculty and students from Colorado Mountain College in Rifle.
The idea for the collaboration started last year with Michelle McCurdy, an adjunct ceramics instructor at Colorado Mountain College in Rifle. It was a greater success than organizers dreamed. After running out of the 200 bowls that were made for that 2015 event, she and fellow ceramics faculty and students are working to make 400 ceramic bowls that will soon be filled with hot soup.
The hot soup will be made in Grand River Health’s kitchen by Rifle and Coal Ridge high school students who are in the college’s concurrent enrollment culinary arts program. As part of their internships at Grand River Hospital’s kitchen, on March 2 they’ll work with Grand River’s chefs and the students’ chef instructor from CMC. The students receive both high school and college credit for their culinary arts studies and internships at Grand River Health.
Although the fundraiser is a locally focused effort, it’s based on national and international models. Across the country and around the world, March for Meals and the Empty Bowls Project conduct ongoing events to raise money and bring awareness about hunger issues and provide funds to food distribution efforts.
March for Meals ‘Empty Bowls’ Luncheon
A fundraising partnership with Colorado Mountain College-Rifle’s ceramics and culinary students for Grand River Meals on Wheels
When: 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on March 2, 2016
Where: Grand River Health’s conference center, 501 Airport Road, Rifle
How much: $30 includes a student-crafted ceramic bowl and soup lunch with unlimited soup tastings prepared by Colorado Mountain College culinary arts students
Why: To raise money for Grand River Meals on Wheels, and to bring public awareness to those living with hunger
Contact: Kaaren Peck, director of Grand River Meals on Wheels, 970-625-6423