Green, red and white colors added a holiday vibe to a local market in a church in Brooklyn, which was full of trees, ribbons, cookies and cakes.

Most people opened their purses at the most colorful table of the market, which was filled with beautifully hand-crafted bowls. By buying these bowls, people could support the church’s food pantry.

Danielle Bullock, Ed Huml and his wife Deirdre Laughton, co-organizers of the Empty Bowl project in Bay Ridge, created various sized bowls and sell them to raise money for the Fourth Avenue Presbyterian Church’s food pantry.

“It was after the Great Recession in 2008,” said Huml, who was born and raised in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. “I realized that so many local food supporting programs were out of supplies but there were not many ways to help them as a local artist.”

He started to think of ways how local artists like him could utilize their skills to fill out local food pantries. He encouraged local potters to make and sell small bowls in the holiday seasons and donate the revenue to local churches. When he found some potters who were willing to do it continuously, he initiated the Empty Bowl project with his co-organizers in 2013.

In their first event, they raised about $1,000, but the project quickly became bigger and now they help more than five church programs and a local Meals on Wheels branch.

“We raised over $1,600 last time. This will fund five weeks of stocking the food pantry,” said Huml. Including the sales from Saturday’s Christmas market, the Empty Bowl has donated over $13,500 to local food pantry programs in 2019. In other words, food kits for 540 people were provided by the project this year.

Huml said that he and other organizers helped the Fourth Avenue church the most because the church’s fund was going low.

“I don’t have Bloomberg’s billions, but everybody can do something for their communities,” he added, referring to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Hunger Free America, a non-profit organization in New York City, reported a more significant number of hungry people in the city than before the Great Recession. Nowadays, more than 1 million New Yorkers face difficulties getting enough food. According to the City Council, the city’s food insecurity rate is 12% higher than the national rate and 21% higher than the state’s.

“Not everyone is doing well,” said Sara Tompson, buying five bowls at the Christmas market. She said that she purchased at least three bowls every year since 2013. “I paid $25 for a bowl, and it covers a bag of food for hungry neighbors. It’s a pretty good deal.”

Pastor David Aja-Sigmon said that Bay Ridge has a huge income diversity, and winter is especially difficult for people in need. He said that many local food pantries lack supplies ironically right after the holiday season.

“The project has been really helpful every time when we most struggled to prepare supplies, ” said Pastor Aja-Sigmon. He appreciated both artists’ and community members’ efforts to raise awareness about local food insecurity.

“I think it’s very easy for us to stay in warm apartments and forget there are people amongst us struggling to afford enough food, children going to schools with empty bellies,” he added.

While the reporter stayed for two hours at the church on Dec. 18, 2019, five people visited the food pantry at the Fourth Avenue Church. Pastor Aja-Sigmon said that the number of people using the food pantry had been increased.