Leeland Desroche said he always enjoys a good meal at Montero’s Restaurant. So the chance to pick up a hearty quart of soup from the Elizabeth City restaurant and at the same time support a good cause seemed like a win-win.
“I knew the soup thing was happening today,” he said on Thursday. “My wife texted me and said, ‘Are you going to stop and get some soup?’ And I said, ‘yeah as soon as I finish this job, I’m going to pull in the parking lot.’”
The “soup thing” Desroche was referring to was Empty Bowls, Food Bank of the Albemarle’s annual soup fundraiser for its hunger relief efforts in 15 northeastern North Carolina counties.
After holding the fundraiser at Museum of the Albemarle and other venues over the years, the food bank decided to hold this year’s Empty Bowls at Montero’s Restaurant, Bar and Catering on McArthur Street.
Montero’s hosted a successful “soup-to-go” fundraiser for the food bank last year, so the nonprofit elected to hold this year’s Empty Bowls fundraiser at the restaurant as well.
The food bank staged a soup-to-go drive-thru line outside the restaurant Thursday morning for motorists to line up and pick up one of eight different kinds of soup for $15. For $200, they could purchase quarts of all eight soups, plus pick out one of the signature ceramic bowls handmade especially for the occasion by College of The Albemarle students and local artists. For $60, patrons could also return at 5 p.m. for the food bank’s “Fill the Bowl” soup dinner.
Descroche, who said he was participating in his first Empty Bowls fundraiser, said the drive-thru soup-to-go line was quick and easy.
“This makes it convenient because I was in and out in under two minutes,” he said.
Brian Gray, communications and volunteer manager for Food Bank of the Albemarle, was among those greeting motorists as they entered the drive-thru line.
“Today we have staff members in the parking lot and local employees of Food Lion stores, a title sponsor of the event,” Gray said. “Food Lion does a tremendous amount to volunteer for the food bank and we are so grateful.”
Gray said a total of 370 soups were sold during Thursday’s fundraiser, and more were available at Montero’s through the weekend. That put the food bank close to its goal of raising enough money to provide more than 30,000 meals to residents in the region living with food insecurity, he said.
While some Food Lion volunteers were assisting motorists outside Montero’s, others were busy inside the restaurant setting up tables for the evening’s “Fill the Bowl” dinner. Besides the meal, patrons could bid on prizes like a beach cruiser at a silent auction and compete in a ring toss game for a chance to win donated bottles of wine.
Each dinner ticket also entitled the patron to one of the handmade ceramic bowls. During remarks later in the evening, Food Bank of the Albemarle Executive Director Liz Reasoner thanked dinner patrons for coming and supporting the food bank’s hunger relief efforts.
She also said she hoped that the empty bowls they would be taking home would serve as a reminder of the thousands of people across the region whose kitchen bowls are empty — due to their lack of sufficient food.
“They are keepsakes for you to take away. As you go throughout the year, remember the empty bowls we are serving throughout the year,” Reasoner said.
According to the food bank, the number of persons living with food insecurity in the 15 counties has increased in 2024. While an estimated 36,000 people were living with hunger in 2023, that number has risen to approximately 43,000 this year. That’s one in seven residents of the 15 counties, including one in four children, the food bank said.
Fundraisers such as Empty Bowls help Food Bank of the Albemarle raise enough money to purchase food to distribute through the food bank and its partnerships with food pantries across the region, Reasoner said.
“You don’t know how important it is for the families that depend the food bank and our pantry partners, that depend on the food throughout the year,” Reasoner said. “People tend to think about hunger during the holidays, but we are here feeding people and working to making sure that people have other resources. We are able to do that because of you. All of our sponsors, all of our contributors, thank you; thank you on behalf the people that need our services.”
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