Mayor proclaims March 2025 Richmond Hunger Awareness Month; Madison County Empty Bowls set for March 28

Mayor Robert Blythe read a proclamation at the March 11, 2025 Richmond City Board of Commissioners meeting declaring March 2025 as Richmond Hunger Awareness Month.

The proclamation said no person in Richmond should have to go hungry and cited USDA figures for national household food insecurity. The mayor recognized local partners that “work daily to step out hunger in our community,” naming God’s Outreach Community Food Bank, the Richmond food bank at the New Liberty Family Shelter, Home Meals Delivery, and the Salvation Army of Madison County.

Representatives of the Madison County Empty Bowls Project said this will be the project’s 26th year and that the community event is scheduled for Friday, March 28, 2025, at First Baptist Church from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Organizers said the event offers soup and a handcrafted bowl for a minimum donation of $20; quart and pint jars of soup are sold separately. Organizers said proceeds will go to God’s Outreach of Madison County, New Liberty Family Shelter, Home Meals Delivery and the Salvation Army of Madison County. The project’s organizers noted that nearly all food, bowls and volunteer time are donated locally.

Organizers described efforts to involve Eastern Kentucky University students and local potters; they said a recent “bowl-a-thon” and donations from area high school students had helped replenish bowl inventory after a slight decline in production. Organizers encouraged attendees to find event updates on the “Madison County Empty Bowls Project” Facebook page.

The proclamation and remarks at the meeting were ceremonial and no formal board action beyond the proclamation reading was required.