WHAT: Empty Bowls fundraiser for Urban Ministries of Durham's Community Cafe. Event is also a competition for Best Soup in Durham.

WHEN: 5:30 to 8 p.m. Friday

WHERE: Durham Armory

220 Foster St., Durham

TICKETS: $30 for soup and bowl, $15 for soup only. All bowls are made by local potters. Tickets are available at UMD, 410 Liberty St., online at www.umdurham.org or by calling Deanna Kleiss at 682-0538, ext. 35.

BY DAWN BAUMGARTNER VAUGHAN

dvaughan@heraldsun.com; 419-6563

DURHAM -- Empty Bowls, a way of raising funds for the hungry through pottery and a meal, has rippled across the country. On Friday, the Fourth Annual Empty Bowls in Durham may raise $25,000 for the Urban Ministries of Durham Community Cafe that feeds 18,000 people a month. At the heart of the event are the bowls, handcrafted and donated by local potters.

"Pottery is functional. It's used to feed," said Catherine Lidov, owner of Claymakers. Claymakers, the Durham Arts Council, Clayworks, the Clay Centre, Durham Art Guild, the ArtsCenter and the Carrboro High School art class have donated handcrafted bowls to Empty Bowls.

The idea for Empty Bowls came from a high school art teacher in Michigan in 1990. It has become a grassroots movement, spreading as each community starts its own independent fundraiser to help the hungry. Durham's Empty Bowls was started by the late Leonora Coleman, who owned Claymakers. On Friday, a few of her friends pulled dozens of glazed bowls from the Claymakers kiln and readied them for transport to UMD.

"Leonora was quite a powerhouse, with her influence on pottery. I feel like her efforts have now spread. It's a way to carry forth the work she had started," Lidov said.

A functional potter, Lidov said when she makes a bowl she thinks about where the bowl is going and how it will be used. Those who purchase a bowl at the fundraiser will take it home, she said, and remember the experience. The bowl represents the relationships within the community.

Creating the bowls has been a joint effort, said Lidov.

Some potters threw the bowls on a potter's wheel, others trimmed them, others glazed them. Many of the 60-member Durham Art Guild made their bowls in home studios.

"It's a wonderful social action to be involved in," said potter Pam Epperson.

UMD coordinator Faye Morin said that last year's event was so crowded they ran out of soup.

"We thought people would come, taste the soup and be on their way. But they stayed," Morin said. There's also quite a bit of consternation at the bowl table. Diners are allowed to choose their bowl.

Last year, Empty Bowls raised $25,000 for the UMD Community Cafe. Marketing manager Deanna Kleiss said that if they match that amount, in a down economic year, they'll consider it a success. Any additional monetary donations beyond the ticket price will be matched by the Stewards Fund of Raleigh. UMD served 18,000 meals a month in the Community Cafe. Of the 500 to 600 people per day, 75 percent are not UMD residents.

This year, of 500 tickets, 325 had already been sold as of Monday. The fundraiser is also a contest between the local restaurants who donate the soup. They'll compete for Best Soup in Durham, judged by a celebrity panel, including N.C. Rep. Mickey Michaux, as well as the crowd. Six Plates Wine Bar won the title in 2009.

Scott Howell, the chef-owner of Nana's restaurant, said he isn't concerned with winning the competition, but donated $500 and 20 gallons of soup because it is a good cause.

Other donor restaurants include Blu Seafood, Papa Mojo's Roadhouse, Revolution, Rue Cler, Watts Grocery, Whole Foods and UMD's own cafe. Empty Bowls also has a long list of supporting sponsors, including MindWorks Multimedia, Quintiles, Apogee Medical, Tracy Bissette and WTVD-TV.