Empty Bowl? Guess Your Money Got SPENT.

Durhamites love good food, and the food community delivers on that as aggressively as the public asks them to. Proof of that is coming this Thursday night at the annual Empty Bowls Benefit held in the Durham Armory from 5:30 to 8:30. Tickets can be purchased here.

The event raises money for the Urban Ministries of Durham's Community Cafe' which serves three meals a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.  Some of Durham's best chefs, restaurants and food retailers will bring soups and set up at the Armory for attendees to sample each product at their own pace. There will also be desserts. Funds are raised through ticket sales, as well as through the sale of handmade ceramic bowls supplied by several local organizations. There will be live music and a great crowd of like-minded folks with whom to mingle and support a great cause.

When the event is over, don't let UMD's purpose escape...the plight of the homeless is a core focus for them and they have an interesting tool to help supporters get the message even more concretely. The organization also directs a lot of attention and energy to teaching people how easy it is to become financially insolvent. In a cooperative effort with McKinney, the largest advertising agency in the Southeast and based in Durham, the "game" SPENT was developed as a tool to educate the public on how easy it is to become homeless. In short, the game is not fun; it is sobering, real, and thought-provoking. Having received significant national attention, the game has gone viral and is receiving traffic from around the world. One play is typically all it takes to drive the message home.