Annual dinner memorializes College junior

This year's Empty Bowls Dinner had a special significance for many of those in attendance, as it was held in memory of College junior Justin Finalle, who committed suicide late last month. For a donation of $5, participants at the third annual dinner at the Newman Center were provided with a soup-kitchen-style meal of salad, bread, a choice of vegetable or chicken noodle soup, cookies and beverages. They also received commemorative ceramic bowls made by students from nearby Episcopal Academy, symbols of the first Empty Bowls Dinner for which an artist crafted ceramic bowls for a soup kitchen. Penn Musicians Against Homelessness, Chord on Blues, and Dischord provided entertainment for the charity event, the purpose of which was two-fold: to allow students to experience the receiving end of a soup kitchen, and to raise money for the University City Hospitality Coalition. UCHC, a group of Philadelphia religious organizations, furnishes underprivileged citizens with hot meals every day throughout University City. Sunday night's dinner raised a total of $500 for UCHC. Engineering sophomore Amanda Spethman said that she and a group of Finalle's friends decided the dinner was an appropriate tribute to their friend because he felt strongly about social injustices like hunger. Finalle's roommate, College sophomore Jack Schneider, elaborated on the subject during a verbal memorial in which he noted Finalle's distress that "people in the world's richest country [did] not have enough to eat." "We hold the dinner every year, but it took on a whole new face after Justin died," said Spethman, a co-organizer of the dinner and one of Finalle's friends. During the dinner, Finalle's friends performed two songs in his memory -- Tonic's "If You Could Only See" and Sarah McLachlan's "I Will Remember You." Wharton senior Thalia Brown, who attended the event, touted it as "a great opportunity to hear campus groups perform while supporting a good cause." Wharton and Engineering freshman Christian Gaffney, who organized the event with Spethman, said "the turnout exceeded our expectations."

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