Butler Art Center’s 1st Souper Bowls fundraiser draws hundreds, organizers say
The Butler Art Center & Gallery and Butler Community Meals had a turnout so large for their first Souper Bowls luncheon, they said they won’t know the total funds raised for weeks.
The organizations hosted the luncheon jointly from 1 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, at the Butler Art Center & Gallery to raise money to benefit both organizations.
“The response has been overwhelming,” said Justine Brown, one of the community meals coordinators and a manger at Katie’s Kitchen at St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church.
Three volunteers with Butler Community Meals and Paul Scanlon, a board member of the Associated Artists of Butler County, made four kinds of soup — chicken noodle, potato, stuffed pepper and black bean — to fill ceramic and wooden bowls made by art center volunteers. Other volunteers with Community Meals made pies, quick breads and other desserts to sell.
Purchasing a $25 bowl came with unlimited soup. Single servings could also be purchased at $6 per pint or $10 per quart.
The luncheon started with 100 bowls for sale and had about 20 left halfway through the event.
Brown said several hundred people in a steady stream passed through the Butler Art Center & Gallery for the luncheon. She was especially surprised how many young people came.
“We haven’t seen this many people in here,” Scanlon said.
He said the side of town where the art center is located near the intersection of Main and Wayne streets doesn’t get as much foot traffic as other parts of town, so he’s happy about the number of people who learned about the art center from the event.
Butler Community Meals’ portion of the proceeds will help it continue feeding the increasing volume of people facing food insecurity.
The kitchen served an average of 340 people every Thursday from the end of July through September, according to Brown. She, Scanlon and Rosanne Natili, with the art center, coordinated the fundraiser between the two nonprofits.
The 340 meals served increased from 305 between April and July. Brown’s statistics are only for Katie’s Kitchen at St. Mark’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. She said, the other four churches involved in the meals program probably experience similar volume because they rotate serving days.
Members of the Butler County Symphony Orchestra provided music for the event. Brown said the music complemented the art showcased throughout the gallery, and the soup.
