The basic idea for Empty Bowls is simple. Participants create ceramic bowls, then serve a simple meal of soup and bread.  Guests choose a bowl to use that day and to keep as a reminder that there are always Empty Bowls in the world.  In exchange for a meal and the bowl, the guest gives a suggested minimum donation of twenty dollars.  This event benefited Bloomington's Clare House.

Clare House at 703 E. Washington St., Bloomington, is a Catholic Worker house modeled after those started in New York City to help the poor during the Depression. As such, it receives no government help and relies totally on donations from the public to survive.