Food bank benefit again nourished by campus involvement

Pennsylvania College of Technology students and instructors will again add their talents to the offerings at a popular fundraiser designed to help feed the hungry in our community.

Begun more than 20 years ago in Harrisburg, the Central PA Food Bank’s annual Soup and a Bowl Fundraiser is scheduled Feb. 21 at the Genetti Hotel in Williamsport. (A Camp Hill event is scheduled in March.) In exchange for the ticket price, attendees receive a bowl of soup, homemade bread and a handmade ceramic bowl to take home – a simple meal designed to serve as a reminder of the historical offerings at soup kitchens, according to the food bank.

Penn College students are donating both soup and bowls: The Hospitality Connections Club has committed to prepare 20 gallons of mushroom bisque. The students are under the leadership of Chef Frank M. Suchwala, associate professor of hospitality management/culinary arts, who has been involved with Soup and a Bowl for 14 years.

Students in the ceramics classes of David A. Stabley, instructor of ceramics and wood sculpture, and Deborah L. Stabley, part-time instructor of ceramics, each donate at least one bowl to the cause. The instructors have made it part of their coursework for the past nine years.

The student efforts are added to donations from other local chefs, restaurants, potters and ceramics classes so that all proceeds from the event support the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank’s programs, which feed families, seniors, children and veterans in 27 counties of central Pennsylvania, where one in 10 struggle to put food on their table.

Learn more about the event and order tickets for one of two seatings at the food bank's website.