The fifth annual Hunger Banquet sponsored by the Social Justice Committee was held on Monday, Nov. 17 in the Kennedy Lounge. The event, which was part of Hunger Awareness Week, had more than sixty students who participated.
When students walked through the door, they were handed slips of paper with a specific color on them and assigned table to sit at, which signified their social class. Blue slips mean the upper class and these few students were served chicken parmesan and pasta. Ten students represented the middle class and were served hot dogs and chips. The last 40 students, the lower class, were served only rice and water and had to sit on the floor.
Later on in the evening, the groups were changed and some students were able to experience dining as different members of society. This was done to show how life can change in an instant.
Junior Ed Carey said, “I thought it was a really good exercise because it taught students about the unequal distribution of food between social classes around the world.”
The main point of this exercise was to see if the different classes would socialize with each other or share their food. They found that some would share but was more of a hand out, only giving leftovers and not socializing with them. Afterwards, students were asked their feelings on the situation. After this exercise, a slideshow was shown featuring Chris Daughtry’s song “What About Now?”
In addition to the banquet, there were various activities during Hunger Awareness Week. On Tuesday (Trayless Tuesday) and Wednesday, students collected excess food from the trays in the dining hall to show how much food is wasted on campus. On Tuesday, seventy pounds of food were wasted and on Wednesday, one hundred pounds were wasted. All of this wasted food was displayed in garbage bags in Banks Student Life Center.
On Thursday, there was a 24 hour hunger fast that only allowed students to drink water and eat crackers starting at 4:30 p.m. on Thursday to 4:30 p.m. on Friday.
“People, especially students, need to realize that hunger is an issue not only in this area, but all over the world and even in developing countries,” said Chris Somers, Director of Campus Ministry.
Freshman Leigh Loughran wants to see the events affect students.
“I hope this week’s activities will make an impact on students because it is a huge issue that needs to be dealt with because of all the unnecessary deaths that occur due to hunger," said Loughran.
For further information about hunger awareness, go to www.oxfamamerica.org.
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