Brandon Valley High students raise $1,500 for Brandon Food Pantry with Empty Bowls fundraiser

Students from the Brandon Valley High School Art Club CreativeMinds presented the board with details of an Empty Bowls fundraiser that raised $1,500 for the Brandon Food Pantry. The event combined handmade bowls, soup and desserts; buyers kept the bowls they purchased.

The club’s co-president, Emma Kramer, told the board that the project began with pottery-making in May 2024 and resumed with new members in the fall. Kramer said the group aimed to make about 100 bowls and that production took place primarily during the club’s Wednesday after-school meetings, with some students using free periods, mornings or evenings to finish pieces. “So besides being successful, like, for the community and helping the community, it also helped us in our own club because we had the older members creating something new with the newer members,” Kramer said.

Kramer listed co-leaders as Atticus Pike (co‑president) and vice presidents Reese Verheim and Olaf Lindquist. She said roughly 10 students staffed the fundraiser night alongside food-class volunteers, helping serve and wash bowls. The club framed the project as both a community service and a club-building exercise; Kramer said it encouraged collaboration across newer and older members.

A board member commended the students’ work, saying it demonstrated an early commitment to community involvement and thanking them for the donation.

No formal board action was recorded on the fundraiser; the presentation was part of the board’s “good news” segment.