Chili bowl fundraiser huge success

The annual chili bowl fundraiser held at Tennille’s Hope Soup Kitchen recently was another success despite COVID restrictions. Each year, the Whitecourt Potters’ Guild members get together and make pottery bowls, which are then filled with chili and sold. All profits made from the sale go directly to Tennille’s Hope to help fund their soup kitchen. Tennille’s Soup Kitchen is open three days a week, providing meals to those in need or those just wanting a quick warm meal during their lunch hour.

This year, the Pottery Guild managed to sell over 130 bowls filled with chili made by the volunteers from the soup kitchen. Due to COVID restrictions, the group could not deliver the chili bowls for lunches as did in the past four years. With a little ingenuity, the volunteers opted to have the bowls of chili prepared and ready to go for pick up at the soup kitchen between 4:00 and 6:00 pm for people to get on their way home from work.

It was a collaborative effort by some local businesses to make the fundraiser a success, which raised just over $2,700. for the soup kitchen. North Country Meats donated all the hamburger to make the chili, Violet-Mae’s Bakery donated freshly baked dinner buns and 7-11 donated cookies, coupons, and paper carry bags. The ladies who volunteer at the soup kitchen donated the extra takeaway containers and cooked enormous chili amounts to fill all the bowls. With gratitude from those 29 members of the pottery guild, the fundraiser is possible each year. Members donate their time and clay to create a one-of-a-kind handcrafted bowl that can be kept and used again. Some bowls are big, some small, some are perfectly round, and some are, well, not so perfect. The only thing they all have in common is the care and attention put into making the best bowl they possibly can.