Hunger banquet to teach valuable lessons to participants

By: Natalie Pistole
Contributing Writer

How many times have you gone to the cafeteria and complained to the person next to you about how disgusting the food is? How many times have you thrown half your meal away because you knew you could just order a pizza later? If you are being honest, your answers are probably in high numbers. Everyday, people take advantage of the food they eat. But what they do not think of is all the less-fortunate people who do not get the opportunity to eat any food. That is why Listen UP!, a student-led organization, is putting on a Hunger Banquet on Friday, March 2 at 4 p.m. in the Tartan Room of the Stockdale Center.

This “Hunger Banquet” is, as Rev. Dr. B. Kathleen Fannin, sponsor of the group, says, “an experiential banquet put on to raise awareness of the unequal distribution of food around the world.” Although Listen UP! is putting on the banquet, the actual idea and statistics come from an organization called Oxfam America, which is one of the many groups worldwide which raises funds to combat hunger. Oxfam will even be using the banquet as one of their fundraisers to help the cause.

Attendees will be split up into three different sections: the high-income, the middle-income and the low-income portions of the world. Fifteen percent of attendees will represent the high-income portion and will be eating a whole meal with a nice table setting. Twenty-five percent will represent the middle-income and will be eating rice and beans for their dinner. The final 60 percent will be eating only rice and will be placed on the floor to eat their meal. Along with the attendees, the members of Listen UP! will be fasting the entire day and will be serving the guests at the banquet.

The members of Listen UP! are very eager for the event and for the lessons and memories it will bring. Fannin hopes attendees will take away “an appreciation for just how much we have in this country, an idea of the absurdly unequal distribution of food around the world, and an understanding of concrete actions they can take to help combat hunger worldwide.” She hopes, with the hands-on experience those attending will have with the hunger issue, they can open their minds and their hearts to those millions who suffer from lack of food in countries all over the world.

The plans for the banquet include: a guest speaker, Katie Danko from the Chicago Oxfam America office, to talk before dinner and a speaker from the Jamieson Center in Monmouth after dinner.

Knowing that this is the first time that Listen UP! has put on this program, and only the third year the group has been in existence here on Monmouth College soil, there are high hopes for the hunger banquet and the lessons it will bring. Although registrations had to be in by Feb. 23, those students fortunate enough to go should be in for a sweet treat. As they experience how it feels to live something most of us take for granted, they will learn some valuable lessons.