Empty Bowls 2025

Empty Bowls 2025, a fundraiser for The Hope Market, will be held Feb. 8 from 10 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. at The Dolphin Song, 102 S. Elm St. in downtown Gardner.

Hosted by The Hope Market and Spinning Earth Pottery. For a $30 donation, guests can enjoy a delicious meal of homemade soup and sourdough bread. Best of all, the soup is served in a handmade pottery bowl that you get to keep and enjoy for years to come.

Empty Bowls is a major fundraiser for The Hope Market, a food pantry serving the Gardner community. The organization relies on donations to help keep food on its shelves and to help pay its rent. Last year, Empty Bowls raised $4,000, with a generous donor matching that donation, resulting in a total of $8,000 being raised at the event.

The Hope Market served more than 27,000 individuals and more than 9,000 families in the Gardner area in 2024. The goal of the nonprofit organization is to provide free, nutritious food to people in need in the community.