Empty Bowls 2024
Service
To our neighbors in the City of Syracuse and Onondaga County.
Our Mission
With the support from individual, corporate, and faith-based contributors, we receive financial donations and collect and distribute thousands of pounds of donated food each year to our affiliated emergency food pantries and programs, free of charge.
Learn More
Our Impact
The Interreligious Food Consortium serves smaller and under-resourced food pantries, senior housing facilities, social workers, and other providers in the local emergency food network.
During the pandemic, the IFC accepted referrals from the Onondaga County Health Department and expanded its services to provide door-to-door, seven days a week, food deliveries to families in need who were in isolation and quarantine due to COVID-19.
There is an increased need for additional support for hungry families, seniors and kids, and especially New Americans. We have all seen how inflation and escalating food costs are hurting the more vulnerable among us. In Onondaga County, the cost of a "modestly priced meal" - projected as $3.71 - is 31% more than the maximum SNAP benefit. Nationwide, a "modest meal" is projected to cost $3.37, which is 19% above the maximum SNAP benefit (statistics as of 7/13/23, from the Urban Institute/Robert Wood Johnson Foundation).
10,000+
served annually
Post Pandemic we strive to meet the ever-changing economic times and the challenges and needs presented by our community.
8000+
pounds of food items a month
We collect and distribute non-perishable items for families in the Syracuse and Onondaga County Communities
1000+
Empty Bowls sold annually
The IFC has held the Empty Bowls sale every year since 2004 on the last Friday in September. In collaboration with local potters to create handmade bowls for fundraising efforts.
