Hunger Banquet leaves attendees unfilled

Photo by Ellie Spaulding

EMU students serve the "low-income level" participants at the Hunger Banquet.

"Justice needs sharing, justice needs sharing!" This revolt chant was chanted at the Hunger Banquet, held at Park View Mennonite Church on Monday, Sept. 12.

The hunger banquet was held by Oxfam America and Mennonite Central Committee East Coast and brought in around 100 participants from EMU and the surrounding community. The banquet was held to raise awareness of world hunger and to promote efforts to help change this problem.

As people entered the church they were given a small piece of paper that told them what their income level was and where they were to sit according to their income level. About 60 percent held a low-income ticket, 30 percent held a middle-income ticket and 10 percent had a high-income ticket.

The evening began with everyone sitting in their designated seating arrangement. Stories from a variety of economic levels and countries were told at the front microphone. These stories were told from people from the United States, Guatemala, the Philippines, France and other countries.

As the evening went on, everyone was served a portion of food according to his or her income level. The low-income group, on the floor, was served a cup of rice and a glass of water for their meal. The middle-income group, in chairs, was served a bowl of rice and beans and a glass of juice to drink. The high-income group sat at nicely decorated tables and was served a three-course dinner.

Most were satisfied with the portions of food they were given. However, EMU Professor of Economics Rick Yoder said, "I think we need to organize and create a revolution to take over the rich." Shortly after that, a group was organized and began revolting against the rich and demanding part of their food. Through the efforts of this group, some of the lower-income level were able to get a part of the higher-income level's food and were a bit more satisfied.

The evening ended with a moment of silent reflection, comments from the participating group, and a bit of music. "These [lower-income level] people will just go home after this and eat, where the real people in the world like this don't get to do that. We need to realize this. Overall though, this has been a positive experience," stated Julian Wiebe-Johnson, senior at EMU.