News |

Campus groups hold hunger banquet

By Suphatra Paravachai

Posted on Monday, November 22nd, 2004, 12:00 am

sarah bigney

EAT UP - While some in the world starve, others have plenty. At the hunger banquet, participants designated as the lower class ate rice and water, while the select few designated as the upper-class feasted on a lavish meal.

Student organizations joined together on Wednesday in Memorial Union to demonstrate the unequal distribution of food in the world.

The hunger banquet helped commemorate World Hunger Awareness Month, which is dedicated to learning more about world and local poverty and taking a stand against hunger and inequality. It also gave University of Maine students an opportunity to see how vastly different their situations are compared to those of others.

The demonstration of hunger inequality was laid out on the North Pod. The room was separated into three sections. At one end was a long, linen-covered table with candles. On the other end was a group of desks, and in between the two was wide-open floor.

Participants split themselves up accordingly, with about seven people sitting with the candles, some circled around the desks and 30 people perched on the floor.

The banquet began with an explanation of the slides of thin, disfigured children in third-world countries. The speakers shot out poverty and food distribution statistics while the audience sat in awe. But the reality of their words did not sink in until the heaping plates of rotisserie chicken, stuffing, vegetables, soda and pie came out for the seven people at the candle-lit table. Then a mountain of pizzas were presented to the 10 sitting at the tables, and lastly, the 30 remaining bystanders stared pitifully at the rice and water laid before them on the floor.

“We hope that kids actually see the difference in quality of life here and perhaps, when they go home hungry, they know what some people in the world feel like when they go home at night. America is not like the rest of the world. People do not realize that,” said Mary Skaggs, director of student employment and volunteer services, one of the event’s organizers.

“This cause is more important than people think,” student Emily Albee said. “Demonstrations like these help awareness and more importantly, help people understand what it’s like to be in this situation.”

Albee is the director of philanthropy for Delta Zeta sorority, and the reason for the sorority’s presence in this year’s event.

“It’s really great to see so many sisters here,” she said. “The more people show up, the more we get the message out there. We hope for this to be a continued success.”