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Empty bowls, full bellies help out Rescue Mission
By Sean Barron
YOUNGSTOWN
Logan Petersen likes to use an analogy comparing a cracked, uneven sidewalk on which it’s easy to stumble and fall with a smooth, even surface to dramatize that people can navigate through their lives with more ease or difficulty, depending on whether they make positive or negative choices.
“It gave me the understanding of what I needed in my life,” said Petersen, referring to his nearly five-month stay at the Rescue Mission of the Mahoning Valley. “I have a good relationship with God, which carries into my relationship with my future wife.”
Petersen added he’s been trying to walk “on a flat surface,” meaning he’s developing a firmer grasp on making good decisions, thanks largely to being in the Rescue Mission’s Discipleship Academy.
Petersen also feels that one such uplifting decision he has made was volunteering as part of Saturday’s first Empty Bowls YSU event at the John J. McDonough Museum of Art, 525 Wick Ave., on the North Side.
People paid $15 per ticket online ($20 at the door) to attend the five-hour fundraiser, which brought together local artists and businesses to raise money on behalf of the mission and to help feed those in the Mahoning Valley who are less fortunate.
The artists, many of whom are in Youngstown State University’s ceramics program, created close to 500 handmade ceramic bowls, noted Missy McCormick, a YSU assistant art professor. At the event, attendees received a meal of donated soup and bread, along with a beverage, then took home the brightly colored bowls of numerous sizes and shapes, all in exchange for their donations.
The gathering, which was part of an international project to combat hunger, also was a collaborative effort among the artists, YSU and its alumni program, Westminster College in New Wilmington, Pa., and some area high school students, McCormick explained.
A primary goal was to raise at least $2,000 for the Rescue Mission to purchase groceries, said Lynn Wyant, the shelter’s development director.
Each ticket raised enough to buy about seven meals, she estimated.
The mission, on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near downtown, provides four major programs to assist its clients from all walks of life who need temporary shelter and are experiencing homelessness, joblessness and other difficulties.
The facility has a 200-bed capacity, including 33 emergency overflow mats and cots, according to its website.
Also happy to have volunteered for the event were Alison Begala and Desmond Duque, both YSU seniors and part of the university’s 30-member Student Art Association.
“I helped to prepare and box the bowls,” said Begala, an interdisciplinary studio-art major who also recalled having volunteered at the mission during the holidays while a Poland Seminary High School student.
Begala said her experience at the Rescue Mission helped to prime her for undertaking further efforts to give back to the community.
“It’s nice to be here and have this connection with people overall. Being active and festive keeps the holiday spirit high,” added Duque, the Student Art Association’s president and a graphic design major.
Duque said that even though he has no direct association with the mission, he appreciated being part of an effort to raise money on its behalf.
Attendees also enjoyed the four soups: tomato, vegetarian lentil, chicken noodle and vegetarian chili. Kravitz Deli in Liberty Township, V2 Wine Bar and Trattoria in downtown Youngstown and Aladdin’s Eatery in Boardman donated the soups.
Among those serving the mildly spicy tomato soup was Christine Froats, whose husband, Ron Froats, is the mission’s men’s services manager.
“He loves working there so much,” Christine said of her husband, who often puts in 12 or more hours a day. “Others who work there love their jobs, and they serve many people. Everybody gets along so well.”