Annual Empty Bowls event raises money for Redwood Empire Food Bank

To eliminate hunger in an entire, vast region, that’s a tall order.

The recipe for success looks to include generous amounts of caring, creativity and commitment - and also enticing, entertaining and inspiring community charitable galas like the one Saturday night that lit up the Redwood Empire Food Bank.

The occasion was Empty Bowls, a celebration of practical artisanship and compassion that will help sustain the food bank’s quest to assure that no one in this patch of the Earth goes hungry.

Guests stepped into the food bank’s transformed Santa Rosa warehouse to behold 51 beautiful bowls created by locals and up for sale to the highest bidder.

Some food bank supporters would have been perfectly happy to spend the entire night watching five artisans shape bowls of wood, clay, glass and other materials.

There were cocktails and wines, then a family-style short ribs dinner by Bruno’s on Fourth.

Proceeds from the evening’s live auction and paddle-raise donations will fortify and expand the Redwood Empire Food Bank safety net that catches people who run out of groceries because of personal or public financial crises, disasters such as fires and floods, and other hardships.

Said food bank chief David Goodman, “That type of safety net needs to be finely woven to catch every child in need, yet robust enough to catch tens of thousands of our neighbors who encounter life’s unexpected challenges.”