“Every 3.6 seconds a person dies from hunger and other preventable causes. That’s 24,000 people each day,” said Tracy Van de Riet.
The 35 participants of the 2002 Hunger Banquet sat in a stunned silence as Tracy Van de Riet, Treasurer at the Catholic Newman Center, spoke about the hunger problems the world faces.
“We are here today because 1.2 billion people - about one-fifth of the population - live in poverty,” Van de Riet continued, “You may think hunger is about too many people and too little food. Not true. It is about power. The roots of hunger lie in inequalities in access to education and resources. The results are illiteracy, poverty, war, and an inability of families to grow or buy food.”
After informing the audience a little bit about Oxfam, an organization that assists those in need through grassroots organizations, Van de Riet handed the presentation over to Kevin Born, campus minister for the Catholic Newman Center. Born explained, “This Hunger Banquet is a metaphor for how food and other resources are unequally distributed in the world.”
The audience was invited to randomly select a sticker from a basket. Those who selected green stickers represented the lower class, those with orange were the middle class, and those with white were the upper class.
The “lower class,” made up of about 20 people, was told to take their seats on the floor littered with trash. For lunch, they received a small portion of rice on a cardboard box. The middle class sat at a long row of stark tables. Their lunch consisted of rice and beans and a cup of water. The five students who selected white stickers were shown to a table by their waiter. Folded napkins, chilled water, bread and butter sat on the white linen tablecloth. These students represented the upper class and were given salads, a choice of chicken or beef, vegetables, potatoes, and strawberry cheesecake for dessert. Coffee and sparkling cider were also offered.
Mixed feelings appeared on the faces of the audience as each group received their food.
Senior Jeromy Crump was a member of the lower class. “I really thought it was interesting that the lowest group sat on the floor next to the highest group. It made the contrast a lot more evident,” he said.
Junior Laura Tobias, member of the middle class group, reflected, “I didn’t mind being in the middle class group because I realized that it was much better than being in the lower class group. I thought our food was okay, but after tasting the lower class food, our didn’t taste bad at all!”
Upper class member Heather Tedder commented, “I feel really guilty! I’m not even that hungry. This is definitely an effective way to educate people about hunger.”
Jeff Griesemer served as the waiter for the upper class table. “We get caught up in our own lives and there are people starving right down the street. That’s something we shouldn’t ignore,” he said.
While they ate, the audience watched a slide show that presented facts and displayed pictures of destitute children, poverty stricken areas, and the makeshift houses that people are forced to live in. After the slideshow, the audience was encouraged to share their thoughts in an open discussion.
Amanda Harrod is a campus minister for the Catholic Newman Center and helped spearhead Hunger Awareness Week.
“When people think of hunger, they think of developing countries, Central America, places like Ethiopia or places where a natural disaster has struck. They don’t consider the hunger in the United States. It’s important to look at the big picture,” Harrod said.
The Hunger Banquet was a part of Hunger Awareness Week. In addition to the Banquet, a soup line in the Nosh was also set up to raise money for the needy, an information table was set up where students could get more information about hunger, and “Hidden in America,” a movie chronicling the life of a poor family, showed in the Pilot House.
Hunger Awareness Week was co-sponsored by the Catholic Newman Center, Horizons Peer Educators, Interfaith Campus Ministries, Pre-Med Society, Residential Life, Student Life, and the University Program Board.
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