Original art will be used to address the issue of food insecurity in Mobile County starting today. The group Loaves and Fishes is presenting the annual Art Soup street party to raise awareness of hunger in Mobile County during the COVID-19 pandemic. The group feeding America estimates that almost eighteen percent of Mobile area residents don’t have enough to eat. Chris Bullock is Pastor of Central Presbyterian Church. He says ticket holders can also make their own bowls.
This year, we have a variety of open sessions where we’re inviting folks to come in and create bowls or paint bowls, so that we'll have four to 500 bowls for the event. When you come, you're getting a bowl that someone handcrafted,” Bullock said.
An Auburn University study on food insecurity says fifty two percent of Alabamians say they don’t have enough to eat following the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bullock says filling the gap in food insecurity through the Art Soup fundraiser is just one way of serving needs.
“The goal isn't to just feed people,” Bullock contended. “It's to be a part of the wellbeing in our community, each person being more food secure and having better access to things. The goal is not just to feed people. The goal is to transform our community.
The issue of food insecurity is statewide in Alabama. The group Feeding America says just north of Mobile, in the State’s Black belt, counties like Dallas, Lowndes, and Greene have food security rates close to thirty percent. Tickets for Art Soup go on sale today. The proceeds go to the Food Pantry at Central Presbyterian. The Art Soup event takes place on November twelfth.
