Art Alliance, JBJ Soul Kitchen team up to end hunger

Red Bank — Every bowl feeds a soul. A joint fundraiser will be held in the garden of Soul Kitchen on Sunday, August 30, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 207 Monmouth Street, to raise awareness in the fight to end hunger and support the missions of Soul Kitchen and The Art Alliance in building community partnerships.

The Empty Bowl Project was coordinated by Mil Wexler Kobrinski in collaboration with Monmouth Arts.
Wexler Kobrinski serves as a Board Member of The Art Alliance and is a ceramic artist and painter. Her MFA thesis project focused on Empty Bowls, which is a project of Imagine/RENDER, a 501(c) 3 organization consisting of an international grassroots effort to raise both money and awareness in the fight to end hunger.

The mission is to create positive and lasting change through the arts, education, and projects that build community.

Monmouth Arts produces the annual Teen Arts Festival, inviting students to exhibit their art work, perform, and participate in arts workshops during a two-day festival held on the Brookdale Community College campus. This year, the Empty Bowls Workshop invited teens to create 200 bowls which were donated to this project and glazed by members of the Art Alliance.

Monmouth Arts is the official county arts agency, with a mission to “enrich the community by inspiring and fostering the arts.” The programs of Monmouth Arts are made possible in part through funding from the Monmouth County Board of Chosen Freeholders, the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, and the Horizon Foundation of New Jersey.

“I am proud that members of the Art Alliance are working in the community to feed those in need,” said Wexler Kobrinski. “As artists we have an obligation toward social action.”

The Jon Bon Jovi Soul Kitchen is a community restaurant featuring fresh, healthy ingredients. Soul Kitchen serves meals to in-need customers through volunteer work or to paying customers through a minimum donation. The Art Alliance of Monmouth County is a non-profit; member owned and operated gallery and studio in Red Bank. The mission is to promote the advancement of the visual arts and provide exhibition, studio and classroom space.

Soul Kitchen was invited to participate in the public awareness and fundraising campaign to strengthen community engagement. “Part of the Soul Kitchen mission is to raise awareness of food insecurity in one’s own community; a project like this is a great way to shed light on community interests and needs,” said Marylou Caputo, JBJ Soul Kitchen, Community Coordinator.

On the day of the fundraiser at Soul Kitchen, the bowls will be on display in the garden. For a $20 donation, a handmade bowl may be selected with a “paid forward” card which helps feed someone in need at Soul Kitchen. Light refreshments will be served.

A second event will be held at the Art Alliance, 33 Monmouth Street, Red Bank, during the season’s opening art exhibit and reception on September 12 from 6-8 p.m. A sampling of the bowls may be viewed in the gallery windows at the Art Alliance through the month of August.

For more information about the Art Alliance, please visit: artallianceofmonmouth.org for Soul Kitchen visit: www.jbjsoul kitchen.org.