Students unite for Empty Bowls and shots were fired on Quail Oaks Drive.
Students unite for Empty Bowls
The United Food Bank of Plant City’s seventh annual Empty Bowls Project event is Nov. 11 and will raise money for the organization and bring community awareness to local hunger needs. The project partners with local artists and groups who donate bowls they created to be sold at the event. This year, 23 local schools signed up to participate in the project.
Local artist Jules Burt used her classes and gallery as a space for children to come decorate the bowls that were created in local schools.
“The schools make and form the bowls but they can’t do everything in 30 minutes,” Burt said. “Especially with the hurricane and everything going on. We’re here, my students and I, to help bring it home.”
The live auction clay bowls are handcrafted by Tony Azorin, President of Florida Brick & Clay Co., in Plant City. Local artists are invited each year to design and paint the bowls. This year, artists include Burt, members of the 2017 Florida Strawberry Festival Queen Court and the Little Miss Plant City Queen and Court.
Pre-sale tickets are $5 and at the day of the event they are $10. Those who attend will be able to pick out their own decorated bowls and try some of the 25 soups being made by members and organizations of the community.
Silvia Dodson, a UFB Board Member and chair of the Empty Bowls event, said they hope to surpass the $10,000 goal. All of the proceeds will go to the food bank and will help provide services to the community during the holidays, which is the busiest time of the year.
The event is from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Railroad Museum in downtown Plant City. There will be performances by a multi-school choir, NRG, Mel & Dallas and Ace Jackson & the Jumps.
“This project promotes the Arts in the schools and community, while bringing attention to hunger and to the food bank,” Dodson said. “The students’ clay bowls the public selects to take home are symbolic reminders of all the empty bowls that do not get filled every day.”
Shots fired on Quail Oaks Drive
A man fired at a mobile home located at 3704 Quail Oaks Drive on Oct. 24 and struck 53-year-old Martin Estrada, according to Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office. The suspect fled the scene in a silver, four-door sedan and has yet to be located. Estrada was transported to Lakeland Regional Hospital and is in critical condition, according to HCSO.
The suspect was last seen wearing a black, hooded shirt with a white design on the front and was carrying a .45 caliber firearm. If you have information regarding the suspect, call HCSO at 813-247-8200.
