Buy a bowl of soup for a cause
For the last 10 years the Flathead Food Bank has filled soup bowls to raise awareness and money for the pantry.
The annual soup supper is the food bank's largest fund-raiser each year. This year's supper will be Friday, March 11, at Northridge Lutheran Church in Kalispell.
Tickets are $20 each and the soup bowl is included along with all the soup, bread and dessert you can eat. The one-of-a-kind bowls are largely the project of the Flathead Homemakers, a community-based organization that dates back more than 50 years.
Club member Jean Hansen has literally taken a hands-on approach to volunteering her time and talent. Hansen says she's been dabbling in clay since 1968 and for many years owned her own shop in Kalispell. As a member of the Artists and Craftsmen of the Flathead, she began throwing bowls for the food bank's fund-raiser 10 years ago. Today Hansen still uses her three kilns for custom orders, as well as contributing her own 100 hand-thrown bowls to the food bank's soup supper. About six years ago she enlisted the help of the other 50 members of the Flathead Homemakers. Each member now casts two bowls.
The rest are donated by potters throughout the valley, for a total of 400 bowls this year. Bob Markle has donated 50 handmade bowls this year and Tom Briney donated 20 bowls and a soup tureen that will be one of the evening's door prizes. Other door prizes include a gardening package from Hooper's and Kalispell Regional Medical Center, and a handmade quilt by local quilter Debbie Jones.
Piano teacher Eric Dye will bring in his students to play dinner music throughout the evening.
Delicious soups and homemade bread from area restaurants and bakeries will be the fare, along with Montana Coffee Traders coffee and beverages from the Pepsi Corporation.
Lori Botkin, Flathead Food Bank office manager, says the event drew nearly 400 people last year. Tickets are limited to 300 this year, and the remaining bowls will be sold at the end of the evening. If tickets are still available Friday they will be sold at the door, but if you plan to attend you may want to pick up your ticket next week at the food bank, 105 Sixth Ave. W. in Kalispell, between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Another event sponsored by the Flathead Homemakers is an annual crafts night. Experts will pool their talents the evening of March 31 to offer classes in subjects as varied as tree care, cosmetics, quilting, scrapbooking and aromatherapy. This year Gresko's Bakery will also present a course on fine cheeses.
The workshops are held three at a time. This year's crafts night will be held at the Evergreen Lutheran Church. For more details, call Cathi at 257-3576 or Lorraine at 752-0059.