I have about a dozen ceramic bowls sitting in my cabinet. There’s a tiny purple one that’s shaped like a heart. A couple of others are shaped like trapezoids. They’re all awash with color and include some interesting patterns. All of them are currently empty.

Keep in mind, I don’t have a particular need for that many bowls. However, it was for a good cause. I bought them as a way to benefit our local homeless shelter through their Empty Bowls fundraiser. The bowls were crafted locally and are usually sold for $10 each. For a little more, you get some soup in a disposable bowl (so you don’t dirty up the nice new ones) and fill your belly.

It’s an interesting touch of irony, as the Empty Bowls program was started to highlight the issue of hunger. Today, about one in seven people in this country are experiencing food insecurity, which comes to about 18.3 million households—approximately 47.9 million people, according to the Food Research and Action Center. One in five children are dealing with hunger.

I know growing up there were some lean times in my family. Oftentimes, lunch was peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, and occasionally dinner consisted of Ramen noodles or Kraft macaroni and cheese.

Empty Bowls started in 1990 when a pair of married art teachers, John Hartom and Lisa Blackburn, came up with the idea of using the bowls as a fundraiser while trying to figure out how to help out during a food drive. The plan was to have the students make the bowls and then to invite the faculty to a soup luncheon and solicit donations.

Shortly after the stunning success of that fundraiser, Hartom and Blackburn told people during their summer travels throughout New England about what they’d done, and others followed suit. Eventually, the teachers formed the organization Empty Bowls, which raised more than $1 million that first year on World Food Day, which is Oct. 16.

The local event, like I said, benefits the homeless shelter, which is fitting, because often homelessness and hunger go hand in hand. It makes sense to help out through fundraisers like Empty Bowls. You get a good feeling knowing you’ve contributed to help others, and you get some pretty bowls through your giving.

My problem now is, after years of helping the cause, I have no idea what to do with them all. It’s kind of a funny problem to have, when you think about it.

I don’t have soup very often, especially in summer when it makes little sense to have something so hot. I don’t eat cereal very much for breakfast, often because I’m doing intermittent fasting and skipping that meal, but also I recall from experience that having a bowl of cereal means my stomach is growling a couple of hours later because the cereal didn’t fill me up.

On the occasion that I buy some M&Ms or other small candy, I utilize one of the bowls to keep it in, so they get some use. However, for health reasons, I don’t scarf down nearly as much candy as I did in my use, and utilizing all of the bowls at the same time for candy might seem strange. Granted, I don’t really worry about whether people consider me strange or not, but multiple bowls of candy in a single apartment is where I draw the line.

One option in the future might be to donate some of them to my church for its annual rummage sale. Unfortunately, that was in April, and between Todd and me, we gave a slew of stuff. However, that doesn’t mean we can’t plan ahead for next year.

Of course, I also have to consider that another Empty Bowls fundraiser is on the horizon in September. That likely means I’ll be buying another bowl or two to keep furthering the effort of ending hunger, a goal that seems so far away and yet so close to home. More empty bowls.

Then again, maybe that’s a good thing. It’s easy to turn a blind eye to hunger if it’s not affecting you or others around you. In a way, I’m proud that the bowls are staying empty, but perhaps it’s time to say goodbye to some of them and send them to new homes that are better equipped at filling them.