SIKESTON, Mo. – Southeast Missouri Food Bank will host its annual Empty Bowls events on Friday, Nov. 7, featuring a new lunch gathering in Jackson and the return of the popular evening event hosted by Riverside Pottery Studio in Cape Girardeau.
For several years, Riverside Pottery has hosted the evening Empty Bowls event, inviting the community to enjoy soup and take home a beautiful hand-crafted bowl as a reminder of those facing hunger in our region.
This year, the food bank is expanding the tradition with a lunch event from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at its Jackson office, 4536 E. Jackson Blvd., giving even more people an opportunity to take part.
“We’re excited to expand Empty Bowls this year and continue our partnership with Riverside Pottery Studio,” said Joey Keys, CEO of Southeast Missouri Food Bank. “Every bowl represents a neighbor facing hunger, and this event is a meaningful way for the community to help fill those empty bowls.”
Guests at the lunch event will enjoy soup and sides from more than a dozen local restaurants and receive a commemorative bowl to take home.
Lunch tickets are $15 for dine-in or carry-out and $16 for delivery, with delivery available to businesses in Cape Girardeau and Jackson for a minimum of five orders. If you can’t make it to lunch, you can still support the cause by attending the evening event at Riverside Pottery Studio in Cape Girardeau.
For a minimum $20 donation, guests will receive soup from local restaurants and a hand-crafted bowl, first-come, firstserved. Riverside Pottery will also donate a unique pottery piece to be featured in a drawing during the lunch event.
The food bank would like to thank the sponsors who make Empty Bowls possible. Presenting Sponsors are Midwest Sterilization Corporation and Montgomery Bank. Soup Sponsors include Delta Companies and River Radio. Neighbor Sponsors are Culligan Waters, McDowell South RV, MRV Banks, Ritter Communications, and Southeast Missourian.
“As the holiday season approaches, we’re reminded how generous and caring our community is,” Keys said. “That’s what Empty Bowls is all about: hope, compassion, and coming together to feed one another.”
Southeast Missouri Food Bank serves about 80,000 people each month through a network of partner agencies and direct service programs.
Its service area includes the five most food-insecure counties in Missouri. Across the food bank’s 16-county region, 1 in 6 neighbors, 1 in 4 children, and 1 in 8 seniors face hunger.
Tickets for the lunch event are available now.
Proceeds support Southeast Missouri Food Bank’s direct-service programs and food purchases to help neighbors facing hunger.
For tickets or delivery orders, visit https://southeast-missouri-foodbank.givecloud.co/empty-bowls-2025-lunch stop by the Food Bank’s Jackson office, or call 573-471-1818.
About Southeast Missouri Food Bank The mission of Southeast Missouri Food Bank is to end hunger and leverage the power of food to build healthy communities. The food bank provides food to 140 charitable and disaster relief programs in Southeast Missouri. These member agencies include food pantries, soup kitchens, domestic violence and homeless shelters. Southeast Missouri Food Bank also holds regular mobile food distributions and provides monthly boxes of food to 5,600 senior citizens and weekend backpacks of food during the school year to 1,100 students in area school districts. The food bank’s 16-county coverage area includes Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Carter, Dunklin, Madison, Mississippi, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Perry, Reynolds, Ripley, Scott, Ste. Genevieve, Stoddard and Wayne counties. Those interested in helping can do so by making a tax-deductible contribution, donating food, or scheduling a time to volunteer. Visit semofoodbank.org for more information