The Ceramics and Culinary Departments teamed up for a charity fundraiser on Thursday to raise money for AACC’s HelpLink, which offers emergency financial aid to students.

Students, staff and faculty donated $10 each for a serving of soup or chili prepared by culinary students and served in ceramic bowls crafted by ceramics students.

The Empty Bowls fundraiser in the Student Union dining hall was back on campus for the first time since before the pandemic.

“In our own community and our own county, there’s lots of food insecurity issues,” Sara Prigodich, a ceramics professor whose students made the bowls, said. “So we’re sort of digging into why those things happen, and what we can do to give back. So for them to make those bowls, it was a great opportunity.”

Organizations all over the country have hosted similar Empty Bowls events since 1990.

Culinary service-learning students made and served soup, chili and bread rolls for the event.

Trésa Ballard, AACC’s service-learning coordinator, said the campus showed a lot of  support for the event.

“The campus really gets behind events like this.” Ballard said. “We have a very generous, civic-minded college community and they always turn out in support of events like this.”

Haille Treadaway, a first-year ASL student, said she enjoyed the soup and hopes the event happens again.

“It was so good,” Treadaway said. “I would leave my house and come onto campus just to have that soup.”