UCF hosts 18th annual Hunger Banquet

A majorly overlooked issue all over the world is hunger. Monday was UCF's 18th annual Hunger Banquet, an event designed to promote awareness and to foster support for this problem.

The Multicultural Student Center along with Volunteer UCF put on this banquet where students donated canned goods upon entrance. Once inside the Pegasus Ballroom, where the event was held, it became clear that not everyone would be getting the same meal that night.

The ballroom was divided into three sections: high income, middle income, and low income. Depending on which card attendees were given, they would be seated in one of the three sections. The high-income group was served a three-course meal, while the middle-income group was served rice and veggies, and the low-income group was given a mere spoonful of rice.

Shardy Camargo, a member of VUCF, and Amirica Nicholson, the MSC leadership committee coordinator, spoke to the students attending about how poverty is not chosen as a lifestyle, since many children are born into poor families with no way to change it.

"It is not our needs that differ, only our circumstances," Camargo said.

Many students' eyes were opened to this problem through their words, including freshman Josh Fowler.

"[I] had no idea people around the world were suffering this much," the radio/television major said.

Other students expressed the same sentiments during an open discussion portion, they suggested ways to advocate the cause.

Representatives from the Community Food & Outreach Center and the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida spoke as well, sharing stories of their "ah-ha moments" in their careers of helping the less fortunate.

, "My first week on the job, I met a woman at Disney who had been taking ketchup packets from the employee lounge and putting it on the stove to make tomato soup for her two daughters," Sasha Houseman of the Second Harvest Food Bank said.

Additionally, they shared information on how to get involved with their pantries.

Though there was a great outcome to this banquet and many felt their outlook has changed, Nicholson felt that hunger still does not have enough of an emphasis put on it.

She hopes to change this, though.

"I want to make the Hunger Banquet an even bigger event next year, that way there will be more food donated and more advocacy."

With Thanksgiving around the corner, everyone who attended this event will be rethinking their own consumption.

"We should all be thankful for what we are blessed with," said Nicholson, especially since 50 percent of the world is considered to be in poverty and are unsure of where their next meal will come from, according to Camargo and Nicholson in their opening speech.

If students want to help combat global hunger, there are several resources they can use, even on campus.

Knight's Pantry, located by the Marketplace, is where students can donate to help other students who are less fortunate in these trying times.

A few other ways one can get involved is through the websites of the organizations that participated in the Hunger Banquet. These websites are www.communityfoodoutreach.org and www.foodbankcentralflorida.org.