A Wisconsin "empty bowls" event featured local pottery artists and bowls fashioned by area schools as a fundraiser for the local food pantry. Hundreds of Wausau residents chose their favorites from among rows of clay bowls donated.

Some of the best chefs in town ladled soups into the new bowls for a fee of just $10. Proceeds when to "The Neighbors Place", while residents took home their bowls.

The program, in its second year, couldn't have come at a better time. Tom Rau, director of Neighbors Place, told us his food pantry has seen a 25% increase in people seeking assistance over this time last year, with 60 families per week coming through the doors.

When asked if he thought the recession was over he said, "Not in this part of the country."

But shelves that had been bare will soon be looking better because of the kind work of more than 131 businesses and sponsors of Wausau Area Empty Bowls.

Watch our Wausau Family short video below…