Tradition continues

Being a Sweetwater County Tradition for the past several years, the Bowls of Caring fundraising event attracted more than 800 people to the Sweetwater County Events Complex last week.

The soup dinner, which features artistic bowls made by people throughout the county, was changed up a bit from previous years, focusing on the YWCA and its programs. Lauren Schoenfield, executive director of the YWCA, said the event originally was a fundraiser hosted in memory of Kathy Crabtree, a resident who died of Cushing Syndrome. Originally called Bowls of Sharing, the event started in 2004 at the SCM Parish Center in Rock Springs, quickly growing to its current location at the Sweetwater County Events Complex.

The name of the event was changed because the former committee hosting the event still holds the "Bowls of Sharing" title under its nonprofit tax identification number.

Schoenfield said the original committee hosting the event dissolved last fall and the YWCA took on the event. Shoenfield said the different organizations under the YWCA, including the Family Justice Center and Support and Safe House, worked together towards making sure the event took off.

"The really cool thing about this is watching our organizations work together," she said.

This year, the event featured 24 different soups and more than 1,300 bowls, the most the event has ever had donated to it. Many residents and community groups hosted "bowl parties" to make and design bowls specifically for the event. Organizers also received help from groups such as the National Honors Society at Rock Springs High School and the Western Wyoming Community College volleyball team and volunteers from Questar Gas.

Schoenfield said the YWCA plans to continue hosting the yearly Bowls of Caring dinners, while both raising awareness of current programs and seeking new program ideas to help Sweetwater County residents.