Empty Bowls 2026

The 23rd Annual Empty Bowls fundraiser for the Torres Shelter takes place Thursday, February 26th, with two dinner times, one at 5pm and another at 6:45pm, at the Pleasant Valley High School Cafeteria, 1475 East Ave. in Chico.

Tickets are $15 and are sold online and at Christian & Johnson (1098 E 1st Ave. in Chico).

Our community always shows up with so much excitement for this fundraiser and we are so grateful. Thank you for being an Empty Bowls and True North fan!

Get Your Tickets!

2026 Poster

About Empty Bowls

Empty Bowls is all about coming together and supporting our community!

Empty Bowls is our most popular and longest-running dinner fundraiser, benefiting the Torres Community Shelter! You pick a unique bowl to take home that is hand-crafted by a student in our local public schools or one of our guests experiencing homelessness.

With your bowl, you also get a delicious dinner of soup and bread. Coffee and dessert are available for a donation. All of these tasty selections are provided by generous local businesses!

Plus, don’t miss the silent auction with wood bowls by the North Valley Wood Turners and a raffle with amazing prizes.

All proceeds go to our Torres Shelter, where we serve up to 188 people 24-hours a day, 365 days a year by providing them with a safe, dignified place to stay and supportive wraparound services that help them move forward and out of homelessness!

In 2024, we served over 1,230 people and housed nearly 200. THAT is the impact of your support!

If you’d like to be among the first to know when tickets are available to purchase every year, please ask to be added to our Empty Bowls email list by filling out this contact form.

Volunteers

We cannot do what we do without our event volunteers! Please join us in thanking these volunteers from last year’s Empty Bowls in 2025:

National Charity League - Chico Chapter
Chico Noon Rotary
Chico Unified Teachers Association
California School Employees Association CSEA
Torres Shelter Board Members and Volunteers
Chico High and PV High students
PV and Chico High Ceramic Students
PV Interact students
PV Jazz Band
CHS Jazz Band
Alpha Delta Kappa

Note: We update this list every year once volunteers are finalized.

Bowl Makers

Each ceramic bowl is handcrafted by ceramic art students from local schools and by our Torres Shelter guests! Here are the participants from last year’s Empty Bowls in 2025:

Marsh Junior High
Bidwell Junior High
Chico High
Inspire
Pleasant Valley High
and our Torres Shelter guests!

Note: We update this list every year once the school participants are finalized.

Soup & Meal Donors

We’re so grateful for all of our local soup, bread, dessert & coffee donors who provided delicious food at last year’s Empty Bowls in 2025. Please join us in thanking the following businesses for their support! Note: We update this list every year once the donors are finalized.

Soups

Chef Ann Leon
Basque Norte
Beatniks Coffee House & Breakfast Joint
Broadway Heights
Burban Kitchen
Crush
Elks Lodge
Fifth St Steakhouse
Everyday Vietnamese Cuisine
The Grill
Heirloom Kitchen
Italian Cottage
Italian Guy Catering
Jack’s
La Hacienda
Live Life Juice Co.
Meyer’s Mobile Kitchen
Meze Moon Mediterranean
Morning Thunder Cafe
Nash’s Restaurant
Pelicans Roost Chowder House
The Pour House
Priya Indian Cuisine
Pueblito Chico
PV Culinary students
Sicilian Cafe
Stoble
SuperFresh
Unwined Kitchen & Bar
Wine Time

Bread

Nutritional Services/CUSD & DUSD

Desserts & Coffee

Insomnia Cookies
Mim’s Bakery
Mondos Coffee House
Nothing Bundt Cakes
Upper Crust Bakery & Eatery

Note: We update this list every year once the donors are finalized.

Raffle Prizes

A raffle is always a fun addition to every fundraiser that also helps us raise much-needed additional funds. Thank you to the following businesses & organizations who donated to last year’s Empty Bowls raffle in 2025:

Café Coda
Chico Theater Company
Feather Falls
Hubbs & Co.
Made in Chico
Mooney Farms
Trader Joe’s
Savor Ice Cream