For eight years now, the Pike County Salvation Army has been feeding the hungry in Pike County with Empty Bowls.

On Friday, between the hours of 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., the Pike County community is invited to the Salvation Army’s Annual Empty Bowls luncheon at the Fellowship Hall of Brush Memorial Baptist Church on George Wallace Drive in Troy. Tickets are $20 each and will be available at the door.

“I don’t know of any other event that feeds the hungry with Empty Bowls but we have been doing so in Troy for eight years,” said Kim May, director of the Salvation Army Service Center in Troy. “Empty Bowls is our annual fundraiser that supports our food pantry. We have a lot of people, especially the elderly who are living on fixed incomes, that have to do without food to meet their other necessary expenses.

“The Empty Bowls luncheon is designed to bring greater awareness to the fact that one out of nine people worldwide suffer from chronic hunger. We don’t want anyone in Pike County to go to bed hungry. By supporting the Empty Bowls Luncheon, you will help keep the Salvation Army’s food pantry well stocked and available to meet the needs of our community.”

The actual empty bowls at the luncheon are handmade by local potters and each ticket holder has an opportunity to select a bowl from nearly 100 clay bowls to take home as a reminder that each night, more than 805 million people go to bed hungry, May said.

“We also have bid bowls made by professional potters Larry Percy and Walter Black, and potters of note –Drew Black, Marian Parker, Millie Biggy, Carter Sanders, Judy Baxter, Scott and Jeannie Swindall and several out of town professional potters.”

An Empty Bowl ticket also entitles the holder to visit the “soup kitchen” which features a large variety of homemade soups, stews, chilies and gumbos made by some of the county’s best cooks and from some of the finest restaurants including Chicken Salad Chic and BGraves.

The luncheon will also offer a variety of breads, desserts and beverages.

If a handmade clay bowl, a great lunch and the opportunity to help feed the less fortunate in Pike County are not reasons enough to attend the Empty Bowls Luncheon, May said, “there’s more.”

“We have great entertainment lined up for Empty Bowls on Friday,” May said. “The Rev. Ed Shirley will entertain with two short skits. And, if you haven’t seen Rev. Shirley on ‘stage’ you have missed a treat. He will perform at two different times and you won’t want to miss him.”