Brescia Students Partner to Raise Awareness for Global Cause

The Brescia University Student Activities Program Board and Office of Residence Life are partnering to present an Oxfam America Hunger Banquet on February 23rd. This event is meant to showcase the unequal distribution of resources throughout the globe through an interactive demonstration. Oxfam is a global movement of people working together to end the injustice of poverty.

Students, faculty and staff who elect to participate are assigned at random a persona that correlates to an income level found in various countries around the world. After receiving their income level, each participant will be given a typical meal that someone of this income level would eat.

“Hunger Banquets are a great way to show, not tell, students how pervasive issues of hunger and poverty are in our world,” said Josh Clary, Vice President of Office of Student Affairs and Dean of Students. “Students experience and feel, albeit for one meal, in their hearts and in their bodies what it is to be hungry.  Such experiences increase empathy and a holistic understanding of hunger and poverty issues.  Understanding with the mind is a great start, but when we understand with a spirit of love or caritas, we a truly transformed and called into action to serve our neighbor.”

The event came from the desire of the student leaders on campus at Brescia University to learn more about the disparities and lack of resources around the world.

“We ultimately hope to educate our campus. We are privileged compared to the rest of world, and we take that for granted,” stated Icces Wilcox, a sophomore from Owensboro, Kentucky. “By hosting an event where participants can take on a persona that lives vastly different from themselves, it can make a bigger impact than just reading statistics or watching a YouTube video. We hope that the first-hand experience can be the motivator and educator that traditional ways cannot.”

The event will take place at 6:00 pm in the Cat’s Den on Brescia University’s campus.

“I feel that a lot of people don’t realize just how different the classes are, and how hard the lower classes have it. There is a distinct difference between the lives of the people in this world. If everyone could experience this difference and understand it, I feel that the world would be a significantly different place,” said Amber Estes, a senior from Elizabethtown, Kentucky.