The Sarbanes Center for Career and Civic Engagement collaborated with a chef and his class to raise money for HelpLink on Thursday.
Randy Stahl, an instructional specialist who teaches Human Resource Management 123: Cooking Techniques, had his class make soup for the Empty Bowls event to raise awareness on campus about hunger.
Each serving of soup cost $10. All of the funds raised by the event go to AACC’s student emergency fund, HelpLink.
HelpLink makes small grants to students struggling with emergencies that could get in the way of making it to class or otherwise impede their education.
“It’s important to raise awareness [for] people that go to bed hungry,” Stahl said.
The annual Empty Bowls event began in 2014.
Culinary students normally make soups in half-gallon batches, Stahl said, adding that Empty Bowls “is an opportunity for them to get into the public and make 12 gallons of each soup.”
Bethany Tatro, AACC’s basic needs coordinator, called the Empty Bowls event “amazing.”
“There are a lot of students who utilize the [HelpLink] that would not be able to [continue] studying and succeeding in school without the help,” Tatro said.
Stahl agreed, saying it is a “win-win” for everybody who participates.
Students get service-learning hours and cooking experience while the HelpLink gets funds that it can use to help students in need, according to Stahl.
Trésa Ballard, the service-learning coordinator, agreed.
“It gives our students an opportunity to take what they’re learning in the classroom and showcase it in public,” Ballard said.
David McNeil, a first-year culinary arts student who helped cook the soups, said the event was like a test.
“The soups we made are very complicated, especially the roasted acorn squash,” David McNeil said. “[It] required a lot of attention.”
The students prepared roasted acorn squash, Jamaican chowder and classic chicken noodle soup, according to McNeil.
McNeil said the best soup was the Jamaican chowder.
“That [soup] is heavenly and you can smell it from a block away,” McNeil said.
Rachel Harris, a third-year music student, said the acorn squash and the chicken noodle soup were “both amazing.”
