Friday, March 23, 2012
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Art students and officials at Fitch High School have been hard at work in the last few weeks preparing for their “Souper Supper.” The department is offering a simple meal for the needy on March 28 and donating a bowl for each guest to take home. The group includes, from left, students Tiara Williams, Kirstyn Warren, Tawni Temnick, and Kevin Homistek, as well as Jim Sulik, art department chair, Kay Wilson, Fitch secretary, and Diane Devine, Fitch ceramics teacher.
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Neighbors | Sarah Foor .Art student Kevin Homistek has been hard at work in the last few weeks making ceramic bowls for Fitch High School’s March 28 “Souper Supper.” The supper, hosted by the school’s art department, offers a meal for the hungry and a bowl created by Fitch ceramic students for guests to take home.
By SARAH FOOR
Fitch High School art students and art department professionals have been hard at work preparing for their fourth annual “Souper Supper.”
The event began in 2009 as a project of ceramics teacher Karen Weinberg, who wanted to use art to help people in need. During the supper, needy individuals or families are served a light meal of soup with a roll, beverage and dessert, and given a bowl made by Fitch art students to take home.
Weinberg, who retired in 2011, is still an active participant with the supper’s organizing committee. Fitch secretary Kay Wilson has taken over hosting duties for this year’s March 28 event.
Wilson’s first order of business was expanding the reach of the Souper Supper within the school.
“I’ve been branching out and asking for input everywhere I can get it and I’ve received it. Our business department has helped design fliers, our tech students designed the banner on our website and Austintown’s Channel 19 is helping us advertise. We’ll have dinner music entertainment and a pottery demonstration the day of the event, as well as volunteers from National Honor Society, class officers and art students. It’s definitely become a Fitch-wide project,” explained Wilson.
In preparation for the event, art students have been sculpting hundreds of soup bowls. The simple vessels are fashioned from clay, fired in the kiln, glazed and colored, and given a final trip to the kiln.
All of the bowls were decorated with white and blue glaze. About 100 will feature a decorative “AF” clay tag, a piece that was formed with a mold provided by Fitch metals teacher Lynn Lovett.
The “Souper” organizers are also providing gift cards from Santisi’s to needy families within the Austintown school district.
Wilson said the project is important because it teaches Fitch students about the spirit of giving.
“Teenagers can be a bit insular, but when given the chance, they are completely caring, loving and giving. You can’t buy the feeling of doing good for others who need a helping hand, and the students understand that,” Wilson said.
The March 28 “Souper Supper” will run from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Fitch cafeteria. The meal and a ceramic bowl to take home will cost $7, but can also be bought separately.