Some are mentally ill and have no place to go. There's a whole city out there. The classroom lessons, which incorporated art, social studies, writing, statistics and nutrition, led to a service project. Last week, the middle-school cafeteria opened its doors for the area's first Empty Bowls event to benefit the Wake County Interfaith Food Shuttle. Empty Bowls, which started in 1990 as a high-school art project, is now an international event to promote hunger awareness.
Students prepare and serve a community dinner of vegetable soup, bread and water.
The soup is served in ceramic bowls crafted by student artists. At Durant Road, more than 500 bowls were on display from which guests could choose. The Empty Bowls event was not the first time Durant Road students have mobilized to provide hunger relief. North Raleigh United Methodist, when it housed the homeless for a night. As a member of the Wake Interfaith Hospitality Network, the church opens its doors once a month to homeless families.