UALR Children International Kids’ Club students will host an Empty Bowl Project Dinner and Silent Auction from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 5, at Wilson Elementary School.

The soup and bread supper is provided by The Faded Rose restaurant. Admission is $5. The event aims to bring awareness to world hunger.

Third to fifth grade students in UALR Children International’s Kids’ Club after school program hand painted 40 bowls to be auctioned off in the silent auction. Each empty bowl taken home represents an empty bowl sitting in front of a child around the world.

All of the funds raised will go to help end hunger in another Children International country.

The project was designed as a service learning project by the UALR CI AmeriCorps members who work within Wilson’s after-school program. In partnership with Firefly, a local ceramic shop that donated the bowls at half price, the children painted the bowls, and Firefly finished the process by glazing the bowls.

“In the cafeteria, the kids throw away so much food every day. They don’t have a concept of the real value of food,” said UALR Children International Elementary Education Manager Paula Rogers. “To them, a pair of tennis shoes could be considered more important than food. I think this project will really help shed some light on the situation. Ending hunger is an important global issue.”

Student artwork will also be on exhibit during the silent auction.

UALR Children International sponsors 3,000 children, kindergarten through 12th grade, with the help of more than 10,000 individual sponsors. Through the affordable monthly giving program, sponsored children and youth receive the right help at the right time.

Around the world, Children International is helping 330,000 children in 11 countries by providing meaningful benefits and services to help children grow up confident, healthy, and educated. UALR Children International serves as CI’s only U.S. site.