A favorite annual local charity has reached the 10-year mark, and with it, decade of compassion has come full circle. Empty Bowls San Diego, an event benefiting the community’s hungry and homeless, will be held Saturday, May 7 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at La Jolla United Methodist Church, 6063 La Jolla Blvd., with local artists and restaurants raising money and awareness of the plight. Proceeds will be donated to San Diego’s Third Avenue Charity Organization, which has been feeding the hungry, the homeless and the elderly in downtown San Diego for more than 40 years. Empty Bowls began in 1990 when Jim Harton, a Bloomfield Hills, Mich. high school art teacher, helped his students search for a way to raise funds for a food drive. The group came up with a class project to make ceramic bowls in which to serve soup and bread to guests, who were invited to keep the bowls as a reminder of hunger in the world. By the following year, the originators had fully developed this concept, giving it its current name. In San Diego, potters create handcrafted ceramic bowls, and some favorite local restaurants will donate soups and breads. Guests can choose a custom bowl for $20. This year, 15 potters represent venues such as La Jolla’s Bishop’s School and La Jolla Country Day School. The 23 restaurants include La Jolla’s George’s at the Cove, The Girard Gourmet and Whisknladle. According to a January count by volunteers and shelter operators, released April 29, San Diego County’s unsheltered homeless population has dropped 13 percent since 2012. Last November, a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development report cited the homeless population in the city and county of San Diego as fourth largest in the country, behind Los Angeles, Seattle and New York City. The report said that 8,742 San Diegans were homeless, down from the population’s 2010 peak of 10,013.