Each Friday 3,516 children in southeast Nebraska grab a food-filled backpack as they head home from school for the weekend.

These children depend on the backpacks provided by the Food Bank of Lincoln. But 3,516 food-filled backpacks do not meet the need of hungry children in southeast Nebraska. In fact one in six children in southeast Nebraska are food insecure, meaning they are not always sure where their next meal will come from.

Nebraska Wesleyan University hopes an upcoming event will help feed more hungry children.

On Sunday, February 24, Nebraska Wesleyan University will host Bowls For Backpacks: An Empty Bowls Event. All proceeds will benefit the Food Bank of Lincoln’s BackPack Program.

The event will be held from 12:30 to 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the door in Rachel Ann Lucas Hall the day of the event. Online ticket sales have ended.

Guests attending the event will have their choice from 800 ceramic bowls crafted by Lincoln area school students, college students, NWU alumni, civic organizations, teachers, and trauma patients.

Tickets for Bowls For Backpacks are $15, which includes soup, bread, drink and a ceramic bowl of choice. Over the past four years, Nebraska Wesleyan’s Bowls For Backpacks event has raised more than $30,000 for the BackPack Program.

A bowl preview and early bowl selection will be held Friday, February 22 from 4 to 6:30 p.m. in Rachel Ann Lucas Hall.

On the day of the event, attendees will select their bowl at Rachel Ann Lucas Hall beginning at 12:30 p.m. The soup lunch will follow at the Roy G. Story Student Center. Live music will be played throughout the event. Free parking will be available throughout campus.

For questions, call 402.465.2185.