Friday was the 4th annual Empty Bowls fundraising event at Bethesda-by-the-Sea church in Palm Beach.
The event is raising money for the Palm Beach County Food Bank.
For a $25 donation, people got a ceramic bowl filled with soup.
It was another beautiful day on Palm Beach but things have changed at the church ever since of their parishioners has been sworn in as the 45th President of the United States.
“We’ve seen the security change and evolve as Mr. Trump was a candidate and then as President-elect and now as president,” said Father James Harlan.
The church is working closely with the Secret Service but Harlan could not say if President Trump is expected to attend church this weekend.
“A lot of the security issues are internal things that we are working on with government officials and we don’t really comment on the details of that,” Harlan said.
Ever since Mr. Trump announced his candidacy for president, the church has moved into the spotlight.
“The visibility has certainly been higher, but for us that’s mostly been a good thing," Harlan said. "We’ve had more people come to see the beauty of the building during the week.”
He also had to address some concerns of other parishioners.
“People assume that when the president is here it’s more difficult to get in or more difficult to park or something like that," Harlan said. "But it actually doesn’t change it much for anyone coming to church it just means more effort for us to work with the government agencies to make sure the place is safe.”
Those attending might have to go through a metal detector.
“The nice thing is when he’s here it’s probably the safest place to be in Florida,” Harlan said.
