Hunger Banquet
February 27, 2007
Tucson Room, SUMC, 5:30 PM
With the Seeds of Knowledge, We Can Feed the World.
"More than one billion people will go to bed hungry tonight." This program raises awareness of the growing problem of hunger both globally and locally. Working in collaboration with the Community Food Bank of Tucson, the Hunger Banquet is also a service project where students and staff are empowered to make a difference right here in Tucson by collecting non-perishable food items to donate to the Food Bank. Strategies for combating hunger are provided by the Food Bank to engage participants in taking action to eliminate hunger in a time of so much national excess.
Some unsettling facts about hunger in the U.S. and abroad:
- Thirty-three million people - including 13 million children - live in households that experience hunger or the risk of hunger. This represents one in ten households in the United States (10 percent).
- More than 840 million people in the world are malnourished - 799 million of them are from the developing world. More than 153 million of them are under the age of 5.
- 6 million children under the age of 5 die every year as a result of hunger.
- Malnutrition contributes to the death of 11,000 children each day, according to statistics from the United Nations.
- Poverty is the main cause of hunger. Nearly one in four people, 1.3 billion - a majority of humanity - live on less than $1 per day, while the world's 358 billionaires have assets exceeding the combined annual incomes of countries with 45 percent of the world's people.
- The world's farmers grow enough food to provide at least 4.3 pounds of food per day for every person. This is more than enough food for everyone on the planet.
The Hunger Banquet is sponsored by Residence Life, the Residence Hall Association, UAB's Project Volunteer, and Circle K International/Collegiate Kiwanis.
Join us and become nourished in a whole new way.
