Latest news with #GreaterJohnstownSchoolDistrict
Yahoo
01-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Fighting hunger one bowl at a time
Greater Johnstown School District students, faculty and staff and area artists shaped clay and decorated more than 500 ceramic dishes, all to help in the fight against hunger. And that's admirable. Now in its 14th year, the school's Key Club's annual Empty Bowls dinner has raised more than $50,000 for local nonprofits to address food insecurity. Attendees choose handcrafted bowls, and then receive a small meal of soup and a side of bread. The fundraiser supports the Cambria County Backpack Project, the Women's Help Center Inc. and the Society of St. Vincent de Paul. Art teacher and Key Club co-adviser Cindy Maloy told our Kelly Urban that 'we pick these three (nonprofits) because they are so instrumental in serving our families and our community and homelessness and hunger.' Empty Bowls was started by a Michigan art teacher in 1990 as a way to raise awareness of food insecurity and to allow artists and students to make a difference. Spinoff fundraisers have sprouted since, including at Greater Johnstown, with proceeds going back to the community. A new addition to this year's fundraiser was a Soup 'R Bowl event at Made in Johnstown. Twenty talented artists competed against each other – and the clock – to create 352 bowls in almost three hours with 400 pounds of clay donated by Made in Johnstown. Maloy said Empty Bowls is a project that students want to experience. She said, 'Our students have big hearts and they want to give back to the community and make an impact, and this gets them involved and shows that they can do big things.' This annual fundraiser helps our community fight hunger one bowl at a time.
Yahoo
09-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Reading event marks Black History Month, commemorates late Johnstown educator
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – A Black History Month tradition started by one of Johnstown's first Black educators continued Friday night for the second consecutive year since she died. Johnstown Women of Influence celebrated Black History Month and honored educator Claudia B. Jones with a 'Night of Prose and Poetry' Friday evening at Flood City Cafe, 137 Clinton St., downtown Johnstown. Jones taught at Greater Johnstown School District's Joseph Johns Junior High School in the 1960s and later spent 25 years as a University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown biology professor before retiring in 1995. As a member of Mount Sinai Institutional Baptist Church in East Conemaugh, she organized an annual prose and poetry night at the church in February, which is Black History Month. Jones died in September 2023 at age 90, and Johnstown Women of Influence President Kourtney Square and Vice President Mellanie McDowell have continued Jones' annual prose and poetry night. 'We do this to gather for Black History Month, and Ms. Claudia was a proponent of education and the written word, so we are excited to carry on that legacy,' Square said. Participants presented poetry and prose readings by Black writers, and some presented their original works. Local artist Queen-Poetri Dozier painted on stage as each presenter stepped up to the microphone to read. 'Claudia always held this event every February,' said Leslie Johnson, a member of Mount Sinai Institutional Baptist Church. 'I'm so glad they kept this going.'
