Paint a bowl and help Meals on Wheels
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IDAHO FALLS — Anyone with a knack for art, or anybody who just wants to help seniors, is invited to help paint bowls to raise money for Meals on Wheels.
Nuclear Care Partners is sponsoring the Empty Bowls Project and is looking for people to help paint or donate bowls. Those bowls will be used to raise enough money to pay for 30,000 meals from Meals on Wheels.
“We have artists or other caregivers either donate bowls that they’ve created – wooden ones, glass ones, ceramic ones,” Nuclear Car Partners National Director of Training and Development Angela Hays-Carey said.
Nuclear Care Partners is a care provider for former Department of Energy workers, such as former Idaho National Laboratory employees, who have suffered injuries related to their work and now need long-term care.
Anyone who wants to help paint can get a ticket to paint by contacting Nuclear Care Partners in Idaho Falls at (208) 715-3025. Tickets to paint cost $3 so 100 percent of proceeds can go to Meals on Wheels.
Bowls can be painted at Possibly Picasso, 351 W. Broadway St. in Idaho Falls from now through September.
The Empty Bowls dinner is on Oct. 10 from 5 to 7 p.m. All are invited to attend and buy a bowl for $15. The dinner includes soup, bread, dessert and a drink. There will also be raffle prizes available.
“Your entire $15 goes to Meals on Wheels and that buys about 10 meals,” Hays-Carey said. “Last year we did 15,000 meals. This year, we’re hoping to do 30,000 delivered meals to seniors.”
Hays-Carey said many of Nuclear Care Partners clients are seniors which is why they chose to raise money for Meals on Wheels.
“Sometimes, that Meals on Wheels person is the only person that sees (a senior) every day,” Hays-Carey said. “If we’re not in their home helping them, we need somebody that’s checking up on them.”
She said when her father broke his back, he was stuck on the floor for three days despite every one of his six children calling him every day to make sure he was OK.
“With each of the 18 phone calls from his children, he said, ‘Oh, I’m fine.’ He just figured he could get to his chair,” Hays-Carey said. “It was the Meals on Wheels lady that finally came into his house and found him.”
She said it was nice to have someone who was able to go to her father’s house not only provide the meals but perform safety checks as well.
“It’s so important to give them one homecooked meal a day,” Hays-Carey said.