The Carroll County Empty Bowls event has become more than just a fundraiser for a good cause. It has grown into a community event that features food, entertainment and children’s activities.

The beneficiaries are those who have a difficult time putting meals on their own tables.

This year’s ninth annual Empty Bowls will be Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Carroll County Ag Center, 900 Newnan Road, Carrollton. Visitors can come and go at any time, and enjoy a simple meal of soup and bread for a $10 minimum donation. All proceeds will go to the Carroll County Soup Kitchen.

Sponsors can also make cash donations, which will go directly to the soup kitchen to meet its monthly expenses.

“We have more than 35 different artists contributing works for the silent auction and boutique,” said event organizer Carol Boyd. “We also have 90 volunteers ready to work that day.”

Fifteen or so organizations have made the more than 1,000 bowls that will be available for those who purchase a meal Sunday to take home.

“We’ll be serving 32 different kinds of soups this year, all donated by restaurants and personal chefs,” Boyd said. “The soup will be served in paper bowls this year, donated by Keep Carroll Beautiful. We’ll have soups ranging from vegan Iranian to chicken noodle and ground beef chili, everything you can think of.”

Boyd said the meal is kept simple to remind participants that so many people face empty bowls at every meal.

Music will include the Lisdoonvarna band, guitarist David Pippin, all-original Sol Tree band and the Central High School chorus.

“For children’s activities this year, we’ll have Ann Marie Alford, a Douglasville ceramic artist, who will bring her pottery wheel and let the children try their hand at the art,” Boyd said. “A member of the African drum group from the Youth Village Inner Harbour Campus in Douglasville will also work with the children.”

Silent auction items will include pottery, jewelry, painting and sculptures and other goods will be available for direct purchase.

“For the first time, we’ll be accepting credit cards for meal purchases and the silent auction,” Boyd said. “We’re hoping this will increase bidding.”

Last year, more than 900 bowls of soup were sold and $23,100 was raised for the soup kitchen.

Empty Bowls is an international effort to fight hunger and was created by The Imagine Render Group. Boyd said the fundraising effort started about 20 years ago in the upper Midwest and has spread all over the globe.

The Carroll County Soup Kitchen is a nonprofit, totally volunteer run organization, located at 345 Beulah Church Road, Carrollton. It provides meals the last full week of each month and Monday and Thursday of every week, from 11 a.m. to noon.

The soup kitchen serves more than 3,000 hot meals each month, with much of the food donated by schools, churches, civic organizations and individuals.

For more information about Carroll County Empty Bowls, e-mail Boyd at boydville@bellsouth.net, or visit the website, www.carrollcountyemptybowls.org.