- March 13, 2025
Seabreeze students help pack up bowls. Courtesy photo
Seabreeze art student Roxi Slater cleans bowls before they are fired. Courtesy photo
Seabreeze art students Carley Haynes and Megan Curran work on their bowls. Courtesy photo
To raise funds to help feed the hungry in Volusia and Flagler counties, Halifax Urban Ministries will host its 17th annual Empty Bowls event on Saturday, Feb. 22.
The event at Hope Place will feature over 200 bowls made by art students from five Volusia County high schools — Seabreeze, Mainland, Atlantic, Spruce Creek and Pine Ridge. For HUM board member Judy Barefield, the donation of their art is a chance for people to see the start of community spirit for these students.
"They're giving back already, which is a really cool thing to see, because I think it helps people to realize that there's a lot of good in this world and our future — which is our students — is looking very bright, as far as I'm concerned when they do things like this," Barefield said.
Each school submitted at least 40 bowls for the fundraiser, which helps HUM's food distribution programs, such as its Bridge of Hope mobile pantry and its Feed-a-Family program. Barefield said HUM hopes to raise $100,000 at this year's event, where attendees will choose from three different soups provided by local restaurants, tour Hope Place and choose one of the students' art bowls to take home as a memento.
The bowls pay tribute to soup kitchens and their aid in feeding the homeless. Barefield said.
"It's indicative of what homeless people lived through," she said. "... People get excited about the bowls that they get. They take them home and it's a remembrance of that they've helped somebody."
At Seabreeze, students started working on their bowls around Thanksgiving, said Christine Colby, art department chair for Seabreeze High School. HUM's Empty Bowls event is a great way for students to use their creativity for a worthy cause, she said.
"I think it's a great way for the students to use their skills and a way that they can be creative, and it'll also benefit the community," Colby said. "I think it's a win-win for everyone."
Mainland art teacher Haley Blair said it was exciting to watch her students create the bowls. She participated in an Empty Bowls event while in college, so when Colby reached out to her to ask if she wanted to join in the effort, it caught her attention.
"Seeing them get more excited, to be like, 'I'm going to give this to someone,' or 'We're donating it to a cause,' it pushed them more, and it made me excited to see that it's transitioned into they're excited to share their art, rather than keep it for themselves," Blair said.
In addition to giving students a confidence boost at seeing their art displayed in public, Blair said it also shows them how to make an impact on local issues that may be affecting other students and their families.
"I think it's really good for them to see this charity action being in their hometown," Blair said. "Seeing something actually help and change around the community."
Empty Bowls is HUM's main fundraiser for feeding the homeless, Barefield said.
"It's the only program that we have that does not have any grants form the government," she said. "It's all generated by the amount of donations we get from the community."
Last year, HUM's mobile pantry served 124,756 meals, accounting for $228,596 of the nonprofit's budget. It's Feed-a-Family program — which distributes groceries in four cities, Ormond Beach, Daytona Beach, Port Orange, New Smyrna, as well as two schools, Campbell Middle and Beachside Elementary — distributed 204,732 meals, costing $130,000.
All made possible, Barefield said, by volunteers.
HUM is excited by the community's response so far, Barefield said. Students, teachers, and residents of Hope Pace and Barracks of Hope (HUM's transitional housing for veterans) have become involved.
"It's a real community effort, and it is exciting to me to see all the diversity that comes together to take care of those who are in real need," Barefield said.
