JohnCooper School students make bowls to feed the hungry

Students, parents and faculty at the John Cooper School are banding together to give back to those less fortunate.

Members of the school community have been gathering at its arts and ceramics facilities to create bowls for the school’s 11th annual Empty Bowls Project fundraiser, which has raised more than $65,000 for local organizations that relieve hunger. Proceeds from the fundraiser are expected to go to Interfaith of The Woodlands’ food pantry, which provides perishable and nonperishable food, personalhygiene items and infant products among other basic assistance to eligible south MontgomeryCounty families in need.

“Many people don’t realize it, but Interfaith of The Woodlands is such a central part of The Woodlands. Especially at Cooper, a lot of people don’t think about those around us who need that kind of support,” said Laura Meyer, a senior at the JohnCooper School who’s overseeing the fundraiser as the service chair of the school’s chapter of the National Art Honor Society.

The John Cooper School community is preparing hundreds of bowls in advance of the Empty Bowls Project fundraiser on Saturday. Each attendee will receive a handmade ceramic bowl to keep as well as a simple lunch of soup and bread. In addition, the school will auction a variety of other bowl-related art, including watercolor paintings and photographs of bowls, 3-Dprinted bowls and more ornately designed bowls.

“You feel like you’re doing something. You’re not just writing a check. By making these bowls, you’re hoping to fill bowls,” said Lourdes Flanagan, a John Cooper parent and member of the school’s Fine Arts Council. Her family owns several handmade bowls, which they purchased from the fundraiser.

For Elaine Harris, a founding faculty member at the private preparatory school and physical education department chair, making bowls is a way to merge art and philanthropy. Although she’s been involved with the empty bowls project and owns several bowls, this year is the first time she’ll be making and contributing her own bowl.

“The students know that they’re for a good cause. It’s a community thing, a way to give back. I think they get that,” Harris said. “The one thing that constantly amazes me is the talent of these students and how the art department is able to bring out their talents.”

The Empty Bowls Project is more than just a way to raise money. Many of the bowls created by the John Cooper School community find their way into homes out of the city or even out of state, spreading the message of civic responsibility and the school’s philanthropy though unique works of art.

“I have them everywhere. I also keep some aside and take them as house gifts. So if I go and have a dinner somewhere … and everyone that I’ve given them to, the receivers think it’s a special thing that the children here do that. And I’m spreading a little bit of Cooper wherever I go,” Harris said.