Authors, actors, athletes and other celebrities donated specially decorated and autographed bowls for an auction for Winnipeg Harvest on Tuesday. (CBC)

Elton John, Neil Young, Muhammad Ali and Angelina Jolie were among the celebrities who provided specially decorated and autographed bowls to be auctioned off Tuesday evening for a Winnipeg food bank.

The celebrities weren't on hand for the Empty Bowls Auction, but their creations were, and when the bidding was done, the bowls helped raise $225,000 for Winnipeg Harvest food bank.

The top bid was $2,500 for a bowl donated by Leonard Cohen.

"The beauty of it is that … every dollar donated can lever that amount 20 times [in food value]," said event co-chair Barry McArton. "So a quarter-million dollars turns into $5 million worth of food."

And the event cost Harvest nothing to put on, so everything raised goes directly to the food bank, he said.

"Everything's been donated — all the food, all the courier services, all the staff for [the] event," he said.

The need for the food bank's services is constantly growing, McArton said.

There was a 21 per cent increase in people using Winnipeg Harvest in September 2009, compared to September 2008.