Students experience poverty
Almost 60 Utah State University students experienced first-hand what world hunger is really about at the annual Hunger Banquet on Thursday.
As part of Hunger Week, Students Together Ending Poverty (STEP) sponsored the evening. The goal was to educate students about the poverty that goes on around the world. Some of the students were fed a nutritious meal and others got very little.
As the students arrived, they were separated into three groups: high income, middle income and low income.
The high-income group sat at two tables, with place settings for a fancy, five-star meal. They were provided with drinks as they waited to be served. The middle-income group was seated at four different tables covered table cloths. They were not provided with any drinks. The low-income group was seated in the middle of the room on the floor.
Before dinner was served, the students were informed of the truth about hunger in the world.
Amber Anderson, director of STEP, said, “You may think hunger is about too many people and too litte food. Not true. The roots of hunger lie in poverty, war, the unequal distribution of resources and the inability of families to grow or buy food.”
All the students in attendance represented the entire world population. The high-income group represented 15 precent of the population. They receive adequate health care, food and housing. The middle-income group represented 30 percent of the population. They work as day laborers, live in mobile homes and some of their children will get an education. The low-income group represented 55 percent of the population. Most of them are unemployed, with unadequate housing and no education.
The students were given hypothetical situations. Some were asked to move from a higher group to a lower because they lost their jobs. Other were asked to move to a higher group.
After the groups were organized, they ate dinner. The high-income group were served mashed potatoes and gravy, ham, spaghetti squash, juice and cheese cake. The middle-income group served themselves at a buffet table of rice and beans. The low-income group received the leftovers of rice after everyone else was served.
Jared Kam, a sophomore majoring in biology, was in the middle-income group.
“Seeing the [low-income group] eating made me grateful for what I had,” he said. “Sometimes you don’t realize how much you really have until you don’t have it.”
As the meal progressed, many members of the high-class group gave up some of their food and water to the low-income group members.
Justin Haskell, a junior majoring in international studies, was in the low-income group. “[The high-income group] treated us good. It helped me understand how much poverty goes on in most of the world,” he said.
Anderson said, “I thought it was amazing how the upper class willingly gave up their food.”
Marcie Hatch, a senior majoring in community health, was in the high-income group.
“I think it was very insightful. We don’t realize as Americans what does go on. We’re extremely blessed to be in America,” she said.
The students were shown a movie called “Hear Our Voice: The Poor on Poverty.” It featured people throughout the world who face poverty every day.
To conclude the evening, Anderson read some facts about poverty. More than 16,000 families in Utah pay 50 percent or more of their income on rent. Almost 25,000 families in Utah are on waiting lists for housing, and 1.3 billion people in the world live on less than $1 a day.
“[Students] have tunnel vision [about hunger] and don’t want to see it, so they block it out,” Anderson said. “Students can help by getting involved with what’s in the community.”
A clothes drive will be held Friday from 3 to 6 p.m. Students will meet in the Service Center on the third level of the Taggart Student Center.
Anderson said STEP hopes to hold another Hunger Banquet next semester.
-mmackay@cc.usu.edu
Utah State University students are seperated into different groups, based on different income levels, to eat dinner at the annual Hunger Banquet sponsored by the Students Together Ending Poverty (STEP). (Photo by Scott Davis)