Empty Bowls Cook County merges with Vital North Foundation
The Vital North Foundation and Empty Bowls Cook County have merged in an alliance that will provide Empty Bowls with technical and administrative infrastructure while allowing the program to continue operating much as it has in recent years.
The move comes as Empty Bowls has seen a significant increase in donations. In 2023, the organization raised $30,000. Last year, that number rose to $200,000.
“One of the things that really helped last year to fundraise was the issues with SNAP, and SNAP was being cut off for a time, and of course now it’s been cut back,” Beth Rogers Kennedy, the former board chair of Empty Bowls told WTIP.
In 2025, Empty Bowls received a $70,000 donation, along with multiple anonymous donations of $10,000 and $5,000. Donors included Oddz & Endz, North House Folk School and First and Second Thrift Store.
“All the help with food is really needed more than ever, and so we had some very generous donors,” Kennedy said.
The funds allowed Empty Bowls to award grants to 39 organizations, including Birch Grove Community School and Saplings, Cook County Public Health and Human Services, Community Education/ECFE, Cooperation Station Daycare, Great Expectations School’s lunch and snack program, Oshki Ogimaag Charter School’s food program, Grand Portage Head Start, the Elderly Nutrition Program, Violence Prevention Center, Northwoods Daycare, Step Up Daycare, Sawtooth Mountain Clinic’s Gift Tree, The Hub and Operation Family Christmas. The organization also donated food cards to ISD 166 to purchase snacks for students.
With the increase in donations, Empty Bowls recognized a need for additional administrative, legal and accounting support, making Vital North a natural partner.
“When you’re raising that much money, you want to be really fiscally responsible, and so this is a way to up our game to a more professional level,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy has a working relationship with Vital North Executive Director Anna Cariad-Barret, who said the two had the same energy from the moment they met over Zoom.
The merger also aligns with a Vital North initiative to reduce hunger and strengthen food access in Cook County. Beginning in fall 2026, the foundation’s Pack and Pantry program will provide enrolled families with a $20 weekly grocery voucher. Empty Bowls donated $20,000 to the program in 2026.
“A lot of the cost of living crisis that we are facing in this region is pretty invisible,” Cariad-Barret told WTIP. “And yet this community is really committed to showing up for those very real needs here in the community, and that’s a part of what Vital North has been.”
Those who want to donate to Empty Bowls can continue to do so through the Vital North Foundation. When submitting the online form, donors can check a box to ensure all donated funds go to Empty Bowls.
While Vital North is excited to partner with Empty Bowls, Cariad-Barret said the foundation does not intend to change what has made the program successful.
“I want to assure the community too, we are not messing with the special sauce that is Empty Bowls,” Cariad-Barret told WTIP. “Empty Bowls is going to continue to do what it’s always done, aligned with its mission, its values as a program of Vital North, and we are just going to support the work that they are doing in community.”
Kennedy also expressed enthusiasm about having Vital North’s technical support for both running the program and promoting events.
“My personal technical skills are not that great,” Kennedy said. “It’s just going to give us a big step up to have the technical skills of a younger group of people much more knowledgeable about those kinds of things.”
The 2026 Empty Bowls Soup Event fundraiser will be held Tuesday, Sept. 22, at the Cook County Community Center.
WTIP spoke with Cariad-Barret and Kennedy about the merger. Audio of the conversation can be found below.
Josh Hinke August 10, 2026
