Hunger Week mirrors reality

Dec. 9, 2004
By Christine Mastalio
Features Editor

Does the term hunger banquet seem like an oxymoron?  It might, but the banquet was the culmination of all Hunger Week activities, and student organizer Stella O’Rourke said it was the best part..

Thirty-five students who signed up to participate in the banquet received poker chips that placed them in first world, second world or third world countries. The first world students sat a table covered with a tablecloth in the cafeteria. They were waited on and served salad, meat, potatoes and dessert.

Students with a second world chip also sat at a table but were only served beans, rice and water. Those with a third world chip sat on the floor, away from the tables, and ate partially cooked rice out of a Styrofoam cup. They were also served water colored with tea to simulate unsanitary conditions.

“It wasn’t our fault we were born into the third world,” O’Rourke said. “People in the first world could have done something but they chose not to. They threw leftovers away.”

During the banquet, head of campus ministry Maureen McGrain and coordinator of service learning and justice PJ Foley asked students questions to get them to think about their situation.

O’Rourke said they prompted first world students to offer third world people food in exchange for their chips. The third world students received one slice of radish and were unable to redeem their rice without their poker chips.

“PJ had to play with us to get us to see that the first world makes promises they do not keep,” she said.

Foley said the majority of the world experiences third world conditions, but even in the United States there is a need.

According to 2000 census data, the poverty level in Scott County was 10.5 percent. The department of labor recorded the unemployment rate in Iowa at 4.8 percent in October of 2004.

“A lot of individuals are below the poverty line and are in need of assistance,” Foley said. “Many individuals are also displaced or homeless, so us as a St. Ambrose community can reach out in this way to be involved locally.”

Other activities during Hunger Week included a change drive in the dorms, canned goods donation, and a silent auction. Proceeds went to Oxfam, a world hunger and poverty organization, and John Lewis Coffee Shop. The coffee shop is a Davenport, Iowa, organization, which includes a food pantry, soup kitchen and homeless shelter.

The biggest fundraiser was the meal donation. About 400 students gave up one meal from their meal plan. Sodexho donated those proceeds toward the Hunger Week funds.

Students also volunteered at St. Joe’s soup kitchen in Rock Island, Ill., and the Salvation Army in Davenport.

“It’s good for them to realize that her are other things going on outside of our campus,” Foley said. “To realize that they have a pretty good life compared to a lot of other people.

Last year’s efforts raised $1,400 and this year’s raised around $1,100. Totals from this year are still being calculated. The Minority Affairs Community Action club, Pax Christi and the Student Alumni Association collaborated to put together the Hunger Week activities. Together, the clubs collected over 2,600 pounds of food to donate.

Back to the NEWS-PAGE or "The Buzz" HOMEPAGE