Annual banquet increases malnutrition awareness
The idea of a “Hunger Banquet” may seem counterintuitive on its surface, but that’s what organizers called a banquet held in the TSC Ballroom to introduce 58 diners to information about fighting hunger and malnutrition in both local and international settings.
About a dozen participants enjoyed a three-course meal Monday night, courtesy of University Catering, but most participants were assigned a meager dinner of some combination of beans, rice and a tortilla. Some were not even given forks or spoons to eat with.
The purpose of the event was to raise awareness about the disparity between developed and developing countries’ standards of nutrition, said Eunicia Villamil, the event’s organizer and director of the campus organization Students Together Ending Poverty, or STEP.
“It’s a great event to raise awareness about conditions outside our country,” said Doniell Mojazza, a junior majoring in international studies. “We’re pretty spoiled here in the U.S.”
The event raised $250, which is more than the average monthly salary of a nurse in the Philippines, according to Jenis Doria, founder of IHELP — Improving Health, Education and Livelihood in the Philippines. The proceeds from the banquet will be donated to Doria’s organization. Doria, who is originally from the Philippines and now lives in Utah, founded IHELP in 2006.
Doria attended the banquet and said though there are about 800 million people worldwide who go to bed hungry every night, she wants people “to approach the problem in smaller segments.”
She encouraged students to help Utah’s 150,000 impoverished children by volunteering in food banks and soup kitchens. She also encouraged students to plant gardens and share their produce with those in need.
According to the World Hunger Education Service website, in 2010 more than half of the world’s hungry lived in Asia and the Pacific. The next largest region of malnourished people was Sub-Saharan Africa, then Latin America and the Caribbean, followed by the Near East and North Africa; the smallest populations of hungry people live in developed countries. The site also stated that undernourished children are also likely to suffer up to 160 days of illness per year.
Doria said she experienced hunger while growing up in the Philippines.
She said her father died when she was young, and her mother got a job delivering rice in order to feed the family. She said her mother would collect the individual grains of rice that would fall out of bags and onto the floor of the delivery truck. Her mother would then take that rice home, clean it and feed it to her family, she said.
“My goal tonight is not to make you feel guilty about hunger,” Doria said, “but to ask what you can do to help.”
Along with Doria’s presentation, the audience viewed entertainment by the USU West African Drum and Dance Ensemble. Food was provided by University Catering, which donated about $150 worth of food to the event, Villamil said.
USU has been hosting the Hunger Banquet for at least five years, said Angela Terry, a STEP member who helped organize the event.
The Hunger Banquet is based on a similar event hosted by BYU, said Rachel Rawlings, secretary of the Service Center Council.
“The event at BYU is much bigger,” Rawlings said. “I think a good portion of their student body attends it. We are working in that direction.”
Students at the event Monday said they heard about the event through Facebook, posters and word-of-mouth.
– rouchellebrockman@gmail.com