EVERETT – Brenda Barbeau wants the person who gets her purple wooden bowl to keep it empty.

“Many people in the world have empty bowls or no bowls at all,” said Barbeau, 17, a student at Mariner High School. “America is a wealthier country than many others, and we need to remember how fortunate we are.”

On Wednesday, Barbeau finished painting the bowl for the school’s No Empty Bowls soup dinner tonight. She and other students created wooden and ceramic bowls that will be given to the first 100 people to arrive at the dinner.

The event will raise money for Cocoon House, a shelter for homeless and runaway teenagers.

“If you think you’re having a bad day, just think about what one of those teenagers is going through,” said manufacturing technology teacher Michael Werner, whose classes donated bowls for the dinner.

Lisa Ley, 17, worked on her first bowl Wednesday and planned to make another today. “I want to make it really nice,” she said.

The bowls have some creative touches, including one crafted to look like a baseball field.

“Students from every skill level participated,” art teacher Deb Barton said. “And they worked very hard to make them personal. There’s a lot of heart in them.”

Students at LEAP Academy, one of the six small learning institutions at the school, have been learning about world hunger in their English, social studies and science classes, teacher Barbara McPherson said.

Some of those students will share that knowledge with diners tonight, she said.

Drama students also will perform monologues about hunger, said junior Jeannie Rogers, 16.

“I hope people leave more compassionate toward each other,” she said. “We’re not so different. We’re not starving, but we all hunger for something in our lives.”

Reporter Katherine Schiffner: 425-339-3436 or schiffner@ heraldnet.com.

No Empty Bowls

Students at Mariner High School’s LEAP Academy are raising money for Cocoon House tonight at the No Empty Bowls soup dinner. The dinner starts at 5:30 p.m. at the high school, 200 120th St. SW, Everett. The first 100 people will receive a student-crafted ceramic or wooden bowl. Cost is $5 or five cans of nonperishable food.