AUBURN — People packed the hall of the Auburn Unitarian Universalist Church on Sunday evening to raise funds for the Trinity Jubilee Center in Lewiston.

Erin Reed, Executive Director of the Jubilee Center, was darting from the kitchen to the dining room and off again to the pottery tables. “I think it’s my third year,” Reed said of her leadership of the event that is now in it’s 11th year.

“So, the Empty Bowls Supper is something they do across the country,” Reed said. “A bunch of potters donate what they’ve made — restaurants donate dinner — you come and buy a bowl and you get dinner.”

Reed said the pottery sales fund their soup kitchen and food pantry.

“We provide about 80 meals a day, six days a week — it’s about 20,000 meals a year,” Reed said. “At our food pantry, we do 350 households a week, which is about 1,400 people.”

Asked about donations of pottery, food and even the day’s entertainment, Reed said the center is very lucky. “These potters and these restaurants get hit up for donations constantly but they really believe in what we’re doing and we really appreciate it.”

On stage, Greg Boardman and fiddlers from Bates broke into the traditional Irish tune, “The Fairy Reel,” as people broke into two lines — one to peruse pottery of all shapes and sizes and another to dine on soups from local eateries.

Pieces usually ran for $15 to $20 but certainly a bargain considering custom pottery paired with soups from restaurants like Davinci’s, Marche, Marcos, Sedgley Place, Gippers, Hurricane’s, Wei Li and She Doesn’t Like Guthrie’s.

Bread was provided by Forage, Grant’s and the Italian Bakery with cookies from Governor’s, Sam’s and Subway.

Information from Good Shepherd Food-Bank pegs Maine as 17th in the nation and first in New England for people who are not sure where the next meal will come from. It stated one in four children is insecure about their next meal, which is about 64,200 kids.

In general, Good Shepherd reported food insecurity has increased by 50 percent over the last decade.

Judy Angsten, a parishioner of Trinity Church, said she was there to support the church and enjoy the great food and pottery at what she called an outstanding event. “You’ll see a lot of smiles as people leave,” she said.

Surveying the packed room from the back was Mohamed Ibrahim of Lewiston, who said he has been with the Trinity Jubilee Center for the last three years. Ibrahim seemed pleasantly surprised by the large turnout.

Ibrahim said he serves as an interpreter for the center, and he often spends his time at the center helping people fill out job applications and other paperwork they need help with.

There was no contest, no throwing down the gauntlet between those donating soup. However, of the many varieties of soup available, the front runners were the Buffalo chicken soup from Gipper’s and a sweet potato and apple soup from She Doesn’t Like Guthrie’s.

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