The Hunger & Homelessness club served students lunch with a twist on Wednesday by hosting a hunger banquet in the lounge of the School of International Service building. The $3 open banquet simulated the conditions of poverty and hunger in honor of World Hunger Day, observed on Oct. 16.
Students entering the banquet randomly received either a blue ticket or a yellow ticket and were directed toward two different tables of food. A blue ticket meant the student ate from the Developed Countries table, which had assorted Subway sandwiches, chips and soda. A yellow ticket meant the student ate from the Underdeveloped Countries table, which had only rice and water.
"The banquet is a positive experience because it shows how arbitrary it is that some people get to eat and some people don't," said Meghan Hynes, a sophomore in the College of Arts and Sciences who helped organize the banquet.
"It's important to address hunger because I think it's the most universal issue we face," she said.
Jack Douglass, a freshman in the School of Communication, received a blue ticket at the banquet.
"I think the banquet is cool because it breaks away from the norm. It's not your ordinary boxed lunch or Tenley Dining Room meal that can be taken for granted. It's good that students are taking the initiative to do something like this," Douglass said.
Rachel Cannon, a freshman in the School of International Service, received a yellow ticket at the banquet. She sat at a table eating her rice while four other students who sat next to her ate their Subway sandwiches.
"I'm jealous, but at least the rice tastes good," Cannon said.
Hunger and malnutrition are the number-one risk to global health, killing more people than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined, according to a poster displayed at the banquet, a statistic that can also be found at the United Nations Food Programme Web site.
Additionally, approximately 24,000 people, most of them under the age of five, die of hunger-related illnesses every day, according to both the poster and the Web site.
"Hunger is something everyone experiences," said Carla Trippe, a sophomore in SIS. "There are no sides to it because everyone needs to eat. You can't say this person needs to eat and this person doesn't."
Hunger & Homelessness served a total of 80 people and collected $280 from banquet fees and additional donations, according to Trippe. All proceeds will go to the U.N. Food Programme.
Hunger & Homelessness recently became a member of the coalition of Universities Fighting World Hunger, which now has over 50 universities committed to raising awareness of the global hunger epidemic. The coalition is partnered with the U.N. Food Programme, which works to find solutions to reduce world hunger and poverty. Each university in the coalition may organize any activity of their choice to support the fight on hunger. The hunger banquet was Hunger & Homelessness' own idea to represent AU in the coalition's united movement.
"I think hunger is an issue that can definitely be solved with the right aid. It's a cause worth fighting for," Trippe said.
Students who want to learn more or are interested in the cause can also join Hunger & Homelessness every Sunday. The club meets at 1 p.m. to cook meals together in the basement of Kay Spiritual Life Center for an open picnic in Dupont Circle later in the day.
"It's important to coexist with others and understand not only your own but other's situations. We want to provide a good learning environment," Hynes said.
