Empty Bowls is a group not only aimed at being creative and having fun, but also at being a helping hand to the surrounding community in Newton. Each week, this group of students meets to create ceramic bowls that are then sold at Lasell events throughout the year. All the proceeds go to an annual food drive for Centre Street Food Pantry, an organization based in Newton dedicated to providing food and hygiene products to households in need.
This year, Empty Bowls has gained a new president, junior Erin Berard. Erin first met with the group on honors night her freshman year, where she realized she “really wanted to get more involved.”
She explained, “In high school, I was a competitive dancer. I knew I didn’t want to dance in college, so I needed something else to fill my time that was creative.” Erin then became more involved by becoming Treasurer her freshman year and has slowly started to gain more responsibility, becoming Vice President her sophomore year, and now President as a junior.
Erin’s undying love for Empty Bowls comes from her ability to help her community both on and off campus.
“I really enjoy it when we get involved with the food pantry. It only happened toward the end of last year, but we went and volunteered.” Berard added, “It was one of the off-days at the pantry, so it was just us Empty Bowls people volunteering, and then Jacob and I did a walk for hunger after the semester ended, which was also great.”
Berard also commented on how refreshing it is to see the community come together. “We talk a lot in our meetings about how we don’t consider ourselves an art club. We’re a service club; our medium for that service is ceramics.”
Last year, Berard started a sponsorship program for Empty Bowls, targeted at getting more money for the pantry to bolster funding. “It definitely got overwhelming being the only person running it, so this year I delegated the job to Jacob.”
Jacob Lustig is a senior honors program student who is also very much involved with the club. Berard works as president; she continues to create new goals for the future of Empty Bowls, one of which is “getting a group of underclassmen to work for the sponsorship program under Jacob so that they will also have help getting sponsors.”
Many of the plans Berard has for the future of Empty Bowls correlate, as she also explained the need for a large E-Board that would allow people to take over the roles of graduating seniors. The graduating seniors include Trinity Pickering, who serves as Empty Bowls community outreach, and Jacob Lustig, who serves as donations coordinator and sponsorship program leader.
Berard’s plans to recruit a group of underclassmen for Lustig’s position are also important for the group’s stability, “because one is getting physical donations, and one is overall money. So, they will definitely need help with that.”
She emphasized the extensive work that goes into the sponsorship program, which Berard herself created as a sophomore; however, that doesn’t compare to the work she finds herself doing as president. “When I was in a lower position, I was grasping for things to do, and now I have everything to do. So, divvying that up between people is definitely the hardest part for me.” Berard is a hard worker who likes to have responsibility, as she explained her struggles in asking for help. “I do want to do everything myself, but I’m human and that’s impossible. Part of being a leader is getting help and not doing everything on your own, and so, I’m still working on that part.”
Erin concluded with two final goals to complete during her time as Empty Bowls President. The first was bringing back ‘sports night’, where teams can come and make bowls to be sold as well. “Each team would end up having a night, and they would be able to get involved with us to make bowls”. The second goal is to host a second annual food drive.
“Ideally, we’re still working on it, but this fall we will have a food drive for the food pantry on campus with the Center for Community Based Learning.”
ast year, the Empty Bowls raised $7,001; this year, the group hopes to raise $8,500. Berard believes this is a manageable goal between trying to get more sponsors and having a secondary food drive.
–Oct. 7, 2025–