According to Feeding America®, 48.1 million Americans lived in food insecure households in 2014. This equates to 14% of households around the country.

When associates from Milliken’s international operations gathered for our annual Winter Management Conference, we partnered with Hub City Empty Bowls in Spartanburg, South Carolina to help shift this statistic in our global headquarter community.

Empty Bowls is “an international, grassroots project connecting potters with the general public to make bowls that feed the hungry.” Hub City Empty Bowls hosts community events to make handcrafted clay bowls, which are then sold at its annual Soup Day fundraiser. Proceeds from Soup Day, which have previously exceeded $20,000, go towards feeding the hungry citizens of Spartanburg and increasing awareness of food insecurity. Milliken associates contributed their artistic skills with handmade pottery that will be sold at Soup Day 2016 later this year.

We love that Hub City Empty Bowls uses the art of ceramics to ‘do good’ and combat hunger. The results are inspiring, from the bowls themselves to the impact they’ll make in improving lives within our community. We hope you enjoy a few snapshots from our day.​