Allentown High School Optimist Club on Friday to host fund-raiser for Trenton Area Soup Kitchen.
By: Pam Koharchik
There’s a song from "Les Miserables" that contains the line, "Empty chairs at empty tables," to signify the loss of comrades during the French Revolution.
A similar concept applies to the annual Empty Bowls event sponsored by the Optimist Club at Allentown High School. The empty bowl symbolizes the idea that while you have dinner, there is a family somewhere in America going without.
This year, the Empty Bowls event will be held 5 to 9 p.m. Friday in the cafeteria. Dinner, which includes pasta, salad, bread and a dessert bar to die for (aren’t they all!), will be served continuously throughout the four-hour time period. The event is geared toward families, and it is a chance to skip dinner preparation and bring a message home to your kids.
Amidst the magician, clowns, face-painters and cartoon character lies a message of how fortunate many of us are to have the opportunity to eat a meal without wondering when the next one will come. All money raised by the event will go to the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen. Last year, the Optimist Club raised approximately $1,500 for TASK. The Coalition for Service Learning added another $1,000 to give a grand total of $2,500.
Much of that is possible because the food served is donated by various businesses. Even the sodas and door prizes are donated by the staff and student body of Allentown. Art 2, 3, and 4 classes have been working hard at designing and firing handmade bowls to be given to each family, along with centerpieces donated by the Swanekamp family.
The Optimist Club has been busy decorating the plastic meal bowls with inspirational sayings. Come Friday, the entire room will be decorated in patriotic red, white and blue as our community comes together once again to fight another type of adversity.
As if that wasn’t enough, the famed AHS Jazz Band "Birds in Flight" will be performing in the adjacent courtyard throughout the night. Director Pete Mauro tells me that saxophonist Ken Weaver will blow the socks off all in attendance with his improvisation techniques.
Fliers have been sent home in the elementary school, but please don’t think that fighting hunger is a school-only event. At a cost of only $6 for adults and $5 for children, it promises to be a night to remember. And that, rather than the $1,000 target, is the true goal of the night.
Excitement buzzing in the halls this week: No doubt you’ve heard by now that there’s a significant drive to bring film making to New Jersey. Catherine Reeves has been instrumental in getting our kids involved by showcasing the possibility as an educational opportunity (Catherine runs the Senior Practicum program at AHS). Thanks to petitions signed by the Allentown community, it seems that within the next few weeks, we may be paid a visit by some well-known politicians and actors of the Garden State, including Danny DeVito, who went to school in Monmouth County. The event will be covered by the news media and Mr. DeVito plans to address the students on career opportunities in the industry. More to follow as it unfolds . . .
Speaking of television, WZBN will be at AHS to interview students who are looking at a career in TV and broadcasting. It will be at the high school today at 11 a.m. . . .
The Air Force Band will perform at AHS on Saturday at 7:30. Admission is free. Anyone without a ticket will be admitted after 7:20 if seats remain. Some of our kids will be sitting in with the band . . .
Blood drive Friday in the auxiliary gym.
Pam Koharchik is an English teacher at Allentown High School.