CS-L hosts annual hunger banquet

by Allison Gossett / contributing writer

Students arrived at the College Center armed with canned goods for the hunger banquet hosted by the Community Service-Learning office Tuesday night.

Senior Michelle Moravec, Alternative Spring Break coordinator in the Community Service-Learning office, was excited about planning and facilitating the hunger banquet, an event that has been held at JMU for several years.

"The hunger banquet is a great hands-on way to get JMU students to think of hunger issues globally, nationally and locally," Moravec said. "I think it’s important to get students to think outside the JMU bubble, get involved in the community and stand up against hunger worldwide."

As they entered the banquet, attendees were given a new identity and an income level that would decide not only where they would sit, but also what they would get to eat at the event. The identities given to the students represented regions from all around the world and all walks of life.

Those who were labeled as having a high income were seated at elegantly set tables and served a healthy meal that consisted of a choice of beverage, salad, pasta and dessert, while those who were part of the middle-income bracket sat in rows and ate a buffet of rice and bread. Sitting on the floor were those who were assigned to the lower-income section, allowed to eat only rice and water.

Speakers at the banquet included Moravec, Tami Parker, the hunger and housing coordinator for CS-L, anthropology professor Jack Gentile and Twila Lee of Mercy House, who spoke about local hunger problems. All presenters provided students with some startling statistics.

Moravec began the event by using these shocking numbers to explain to students how important it was that they were there to learn how they can fight world hunger.

"We are here today because 1.2 billion people — about one-fifth of the world’s population — live in poverty," Moravec said. "Eight-hundred million of these people suffer from chronic hunger. Every 3.6 seconds a person dies from hunger and other preventable causes — that’s 24,000 people every day; 17 people each minute."

Students also heard about issues other than the hunger that contributes to poverty in other countries such as inadequate healthcare, insufficient meals, poor education and poor work conditions, giving the attendants a broad perspective.

Moravec explained how in Ethiopia more than 11 million people are coping with prolonged food crisis and are in danger of starvation, on the verge of facing a famine worse than anything they’ve dealt with before. Parker, spoke of the crisis in Mauritania as well.

In order to provide students with such in-depth information on the poverty and hunger that people suffer through all around the world, Parker, Moravec, graduate assistant to the CSL program Mary Frier, and Tyrone White, the wellness and environment service coordinator for CS-L, went through a lot of preparation.

"We have been preparing for this event for the past few months," Parker said. "We have been in contact with Oxfam American, a large non-profit group which organizes and puts on hunger banquets all over the country. Another student and I even went to a hunger banquet presented by Oxfam in Baltimore in October to get more first-hand experience."

While the hunger banquet can only expose students to a small dose of what so many people around the world are experiencing, many students felt that the event was a valuable experience.

Sophomore Amanda Barber felt that the hunger banquet made her appreciate all that she has much more.

"I thought that the banquet acted as a really good tool for spreading poverty awareness," Barber said. "The photos they showed and the stories they told really made me appreciate the advantages and opportunities that I have."