Sale of Empty Soup Bowls Helps Fill Hunger Project’s Need

EMPTY BOWLS: Ceramic soup bowls made by students at Chadwick School on the Palos Verdes Peninsula sat on a wooden table in Ann Weston’s art classroom. Some students had made ceramic ladles to match the brightly colored bowls.

But the students themselves won’t be using these bowls. They will be sold today to faculty, staff, parents and students for $5 each as part of the school’s “Empty Bowls” hunger project. Proceeds from the sale will go to local soup kitchens.

“Empty Bowls” was initiated six years ago by two high school art teachers in Franklin, Mich. Schools throughout the United States have followed that lead, sponsoring similar programs and raising more than $1 million to help feed the hungry.

Weston said her first task in the hunger project was to raise students’ awareness.

“I asked them if they had ever been hungry,” she said. But being hungry before lunch, and not having a meal for days, she said, is a difference “they don’t have an idea of--the daily experience of hunger.”

Weston said 72 bowls have been made in the month since the project began. One contains a message neatly written around the inside: “Are you hungry? I am not. But there are 12.5 million kids under 18 who live in poverty. There are 100,000 homeless kids in the U.S. 40,000 infants die each day. Please help.”

Some students said they have gained a different perspective on the hunger problem.

“It’s hard to imagine being hungry,” said Jenny Hall, 15, of Rancho Palos Verdes. “Why are we so fortunate and they aren’t? It makes you think.”

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DECATHLON PREP: The West High School academic decathlon team members are poised to reclaim their title as Los Angeles County champs--and they plan to take the state and national championships too.

Coach George Floratos said the nine-student team, made up of seven seniors and two juniors, has been studying, among other subjects, the economics of Eastern Europe and “A Tale of Two Cities.” They also have been brushing up on their essay skills. The students have been meeting at his home twice a week since March.

By the time they step on the football field at El Monte High on Nov. 20 for the Los Angeles County academic decathlon competition against 69 other high schools, Floratos figures the group will have spent more than 200 hours preparing.

“That’s a lot of time invested for a one-day event,” said Floratos, who teaches science at West High in Torrance.

Last year, West High won the county championship, sponsored by the Los Angeles County Office of Education, for the third year in a row. In the state round they placed third, competing against 43 other high schools.

“You try to find your most gregarious students, the good test takers, kids who can make a commitment, and kids who can get along with others,” he said.

Based on what he has seen so far, Floratos said this team, three of whom were on last year’s team, will go far. “It looks great for us this year. We’ve got a good batch of kids.”

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DOMINGUEZ AWARD: Gail Yoneoka of Jefferson Elementary School in Redondo Beach was awarded a Dominguez Brand Award from the Carson Companies, a Rancho Dominguez real estate firm, for excellence in the teaching profession.

A sixth-grade teacher, Yoneoka was honored for her involvement in the Junior Olympics and Big Brother and Big Sister programs on campus, and for designing special programs for learning-disabled students. Yoneoka also was cited for inviting speakers from other age groups and cultures to share their experiences with her classes.

In addition to receiving the Dominguez Brand Award, Yoneoka received a $1,000 honorarium. The award is a replica of a cattle brand used at Rancho San Pedro, which was the name of the Spanish land that now encompasses much of the South Bay.

Five other teachers received honorable mentions from the company: Nancy Miller, Compton High School; Shirley McCarty, Gardena High School; Anna O’Grady, Dominguez Elementary School; Phyllis Thom, Palos Verdes Intermediate School; and Glen Tanaka, North Torrance High School.

The biannual award has been given since 1989.

Items for the weekly Class Notes column can be mailed to The Times South Bay office, 23133 Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 200, Torrance 90505, or faxed to (310) 373-5753 to the attention of staff writer Carol Chastang.