With breezy weather perfect for warm soup, hundreds gathered Friday at the Episcopal Church Bethesda-by-the-Sea for the Palm Beach County Food Bank’s 12th Annual Empty Bowls Palm Beach.
The church’s courtyard brimmed with guests enjoying the selection of 24 gourmet soups from local chefs alongside freshly baked bread from Delray Beach’s Old School Bakery. The event also featured a bake sale.
According to the food bank, nearly 600 people attended the event, which raised about $123,000 for its efforts to feed the 173,000 county residents who have trouble getting enough food.
The turnout left Palm Beach Food Bank CEO Jamie Kendall elated.
“We have an incredible amount of people here,” Kendall told the Daily News.
Students from North Palm Beach’s Benjamin School joined volunteers with setup and cleanup. Town leaders, including Mayor Danielle Moore, Town Council President Bobbie Lindsay and Council Member Ted Cooney, helped serve attendees.
“This is one of my favorite events of the year because it goes to a great cause that keeps money here in Palm Beach County, and it’s fun to volunteer and see everyone show up,” Cooney said.
People from across the county joined the day’s event, including Wellington residents Kimberly Rovner and Yvonne Saint Louis. Their favorite soup was a tie between PB Catch’s homemade gazpacho and The Bath and Tennis Club’s smoked brisket chili with black beans and corn.
The gazpacho also was a favorite for Palm Beach seasonal residents Lorraine and Jay Fleischman. They had wanted to attend the event for years, but the timing was never right, Lorraine Fleischman said.
“I asked a bunch of friends that I play card with if they’d come,” she said. “My husband got lucky, because one of my friends got sick, so he took the extra ticket.”
In addition to PB Catch and The Bath and Tennis Club, other participating restaurants were BrickTop’s, Buccan, Club Colette, The Colony Hotel, E.R. Bradley’s, Field of Greens, Palm Beach County Food Bank Chef Doug Barg, Gourmet Galaxy, Grato, Le Bilboquet Palm Beach, La Maison De Paris, Paradiso Ristorante, Pistache, Renato’s, Sailfish Club of Florida, The Beach Club, The Breakers, Toojay’s, Trevini Ristorante and Joshua Catering from The Lord’s Place.
Bethesda’s rector, the Rev. Tim Schenk, welcomed the event.
“It’s a privilege to be able to host the community, we have so many people coming to make a difference in the world, and this is one way we are able to do that … it’s an intergenerational and it’s an interfaith event,” he said. “And what I love about that is that every single faith tradition, one of the tenants is feeding the hungry.”
For more information about Palm Beach County Food Bank services and volunteering opportunities, visit pbcfoodbank.org.
Diego Diaz Lasa is a journalist at the Palm Beach Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: 12th annual Empty Bowls Palm Beach brings hundreds to the island
