Pick a bowl and feed many!

Want to provide 30 healthy meals to neighbors in need while sampling soups from some of Pensacola’s premier eateries? And take home a locally handcrafted one-of-a-kind bowl?

One of Pensacola’s favorite events for one of its most cherished nonprofits offers just that opportunity.

Manna Food Bank’s Clover Pick a Bowl Fill a Bowl will be held on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, at Pensacola State College.

The fundraiser couldn’t come at a better time.

Local Hunger Increasing

“Last year, Manna served 69,095 hungry neighbors in need in Northwest Florida. That’s 122 percent more than the previous year,” said DeDe Flounlacker, Manna executive director.

She explained that while some of that increase includes programs expanding food access for children, it also points to more and more local food insecurity.

Historically, the northwest counties of Florida have more hunger than much of the state and nation. And with record inflation and increasing grocery, utility and housing costs, the need for help obtaining food is stronger than ever.

In fact, grocery costs increased almost 12 percent from December

2021 to December 2022. As a result, 30 percent of American children were not eating enough last year because it was unaffordable, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

“We do not anticipate it to slow down soon,” added Flounlacker, who has led Manna for eleven-and-a-half years.

Celebrating 40 years in operation in 2023, Manna has no national affiliation and is dependent on local support. For

14 years, Pick a Bowl Fill a Bowl has served as a creative way to help build the agency’s community coffers.

“The Clover Pick a Bowl Fill a Bowl is a unique fundraiser with an artsy twist featuring the work of local artists and the fare of local vendors,” Flounlacker said.

Volunteers Are The Lifeblood

The event is a festive culmination of many hours of volunteerism.

Local artists, including members of Pensacola State College’s visual arts department and First City Art Center, have been shaping clay into one-ofkind bowls for months.

“It gives our artists a sense of being part of a larger effort for those in need while strengthening our art community at the same time,” said Ben Twingley of First City.

PSC’s work is an annual effort launched by the late Bill Clover, who taught ceramics at the college for more than half a century and created thousands of bowls for the event. After he passed, the popular event took on his name.

Of course, those beautiful bowls need filling and that’s where the local restaurants come in. Every year, they tap into their culinary genius

WANT TO GO?

• WHEN: 6 to 8 p.m., March 17

• WHERE: Pensacola State College Lou Ross Center, 1000 College Blvd., Pensacola

• COST & MORE INFO: Pre-sale tickets are available for $50 at mannahelps.org; day-of tickets are $60 to concoct unique soup recipes for event-goers. Then they get to work chopping, sautéing, seasoning, simmering, packing, transporting and serving – all as a donation to the community. At press time, Manna staff was still recruiting restaurants but already on board were The Grand Marlin, Classic City Catering, The Farm and Scenic Hills Country Club to name a few.