Empty Bowl Project brings support for Marcella’s Kitchen

The 2017 Empty Bowl Project, held Saturday at Marshall County High School, brought together restaurants and businesses to serve some of their best dishes to support Marcella’s Kitchen, a community nonprofit devoted to serving meals to those in need. Proceeds from the annual fundraiser — about $12,000 from the 400 tickets sold and silent auction items as of Tuesday — went to the organization’s building fund, to renovate a newly purchased building in Benton. The building, formerly the Stilley Professional Building on the campus of the old Marshall County Hospital, will eventually house a commercial kitchen and dining area. Renovations are expected to take about a year.

Marcella’s Kitchen will continue to operate at the Draffenville Community Center in the meantime. Meals are served from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday through Friday.