Every second a person dies of hunger.

Right now, more than one billion people suffer from hunger. That means that one in every six people on Earth doesn’t get enough food to live a healthy life. This year, 36 million of these people will die of hunger.

Each year, the Pike County Salvation Army Service Center hosts an Empty Bowls Luncheon which is designed to bring greater awareness to worldwide hunger and to raise funds to support the Salvation Army Food Bank that feeds the hungry here at home.

The 9th Annual Salvation Army Empty Bowls luncheon will from11 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Friday, April 20 in the Family Life Center at Bush Memorial Baptist Church in Troy.

Kim May, director of the service center, said Empty Bowls luncheons have been successful in the past in bringing awareness to worldwide hunger and raising funds to fight hunger in the Pike County Salvation Army service area.

“Although Empty Bowls is more than two weeks away, we want people to mark the date on their calendars and make plans to join us as we raised funds to fill empty bowls right here in Pike County,” May said.

Tickets are $20 each and include the soup/stew buffet and an empty bowl selected from nearly 100 handmade clay bowls.

“We’ll have a large selection of bowls made by professional potters, pottery students from Troy University, Pike County High School art classes and from members of the community.

“The Colley Complex Potters and the Chamber’s Junior Ambassadors made bowls for us,” May said. “We also had a bowl-making day and members of the community created some very interesting bowls. We also had local potters make bowls especially for the Empty Bowls luncheon.”

The Empty Bowls Luncheon will also have a bid table and ticket holders will have a chance to take home a bowl made by professional potters and talented and creative local potters.

Soups/stews and desserts for the buffet-type bar will be made by several local restaurants and talented cooks.

Entertainment for the 2018 Empty Bowls Luncheon will be by Lenny Trawick, musician/singer/songwriter.

“Hearing Lenny will be worth the ticket price,” May said. “But you also get lunch with dessert, a handmade bowl and the good feeling that comes with doing good for others. Everyone is invited. We hope to have the largest turnout ever.”