The Bay School Community Arts Center’s ninth annual Empty Bowls fundraiser for Hands Across Mathews was held in person at the gallery on Sunday.

Community enthusiasm for the event was high, with the first guests, the Johnson family of Mathews, arriving with camp chairs an hour early to claim the first spot in a long line that formed after them.

Eleven-year-old Lincoln Johnson used his first chance at the bowls to claim a turtle shell bowl by ceramic artist Katherine Maloney, saying, “I want to help Hands Across Mathews. I like the empty bowls, and I love the Bay School.”

Over $7,000 has been raised thus far, said a press release, with awareness of the “need to feed” expected to bring in more donations outside of the fundraiser.

“This event is a poignant reminder that there are those around us that, without the aid of Hands Across Mathews, will surely have empty bowls in their future,” said the release.

During the pandemic, the Bay School sponsored an online “really empt...