OXFam Banquet: What will you do about world hunger?

By: Kelly Taylor

On Monday November 12, the OXfam organization held its annual banquet. This banquet is held once a year to show the students of Frostburg State University that hunger is a serious thing, and it is happening not only all over the world, but in this very town.

The banquet consisted of three "ranks" of income. People that came to attend this banquet walked into the ARMAH and chose a card at random. On that card it either said the person was High Income, Middle-Income, or Low Income and then it told that persons story. Each story that was on the cards represented a person in real life, and their real story. After a person received their cards, depending on their income is where they sat. The people that had a high income got to sit at a nice table that had linen cloths, an elegant dinner place setting and napkins; middle income got to sit at a plain black table in chairs; and low income had to sit on the floor. As the banquet began people started to show slide shows of people starving all over the world and then speaking about the people in the slide shows stories. "As you can see, over 75% of the world is living in hunger," said Emily Hall a member of OXfam international here at Frostburg State University. It was sad reading hearing about all of these people who live in poverty. 

After the slide shows were done with, and the speakers had spoken, it was time to eat.  The high income people were served a three corse meal that consisted of: Salad, Chicken, and Dessert. While the high income people were enjoying their three corse meal, the middle income people were only given rice and beans, and the low income people were only given rice. This was a way of showing what different income levels eat on a daily basis around the world. As everyone continued to eat, the middle income group came and sat on the floor with the low income group and shared their rice and beans. "This has never happened before at an OXfam banquet, ever!" said Hall. It was a new phenomena for the OXfam family. After the middle income group had come and sat on the floor and shared their food with the low income people, the high income people came over and handed everyone some bread and butter. After their entrees were served they then split up half of their plate and gave it to the people on the floor. It was very moving because it represented what people could do if they actually thought about the world that everyone lives in, and gave to the poor. Once everyone was done eating and sharing, people shared their own personal stories about know people in poverty, or having been in poverty themselves. It was a very emotional ending. 

Everyone at the OXfam banquet took it upon themselves to sign up to help with the local food drive here in Frostburg, Md. It is amazing to see what kind of an impact an event on campus can have on individuals.  So the question is, what will you do about hunger?