Celebrating a 40 Year Tradition with Oxfam!

Across the country, Action Corps cities are participating in Oxfam America Hunger Banquets. The very first Oxfam Hunger Banquet took place nearly 40 years ago, and today it’s a tradition that takes place all over the US in synagogues, temples, churches, schools, offices, libraries and community centers. Hunger Banquets are a simulation, where luck controls where you sit and what you eat. No one Hunger Banquet is the same but all participants leave with more knowledge about the harsh realities of global hunger. 

This year, 8 Action Corps cities held an Oxfam America Hunger Banquet, contributing to the over 400 held this year!  Nearly 600 people participated in one of the following Action Corps hosted events, and many more learned about global hunger through Action Corps outreach.  For more information on hosting your own Oxfam America Hunger Banquet, click here.

Take a look at the photos from these inspiring simulations:

Boston

 This Oxfam America Hunger Banquet drew local college students, activists, and Oxfam enthusiasts!

For more on the Boston Oxfam America Hunger Banquet click here!

Des Moines

Des Moines was the host of two Oxfam America Hunger Banquets this year!  One, with the Global Youth Institute drew a crowd of 300 high school students during the Borlaug Dialogue in Iowa.

300 high school students participate in this Oxfam America Hunger Banquet

Hunger Banquet with the ONE Campaign!

Hunger Banqueter chooses her fate 

For more on the Des Moines Oxfam America Hunger Banquet and the Borlaug Dialogues, check out the Iowa Action Corps' blog here!

Minneapolis

Minneapolis joins in with CHANGE leaders at Macalester college!

For more on the Minnesota Action Corps, check out their blog here!

Seattle

University of Washington Bothell Clubs and Organizations, Cascadia Community College, Human Equality and Rights Everywhere, and the Seattle Oxfam Action Corps came together to host an Oxfam America Hunger Banquet!

Participants are split by lower, middle and upper income

Keynote speaker Ray Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America

To see more from the Seattle Action Corps, click here!

Columbus

Columbus Action Corps partnered with the Salvation Army of Central Ohio and the Foundation for the African Diaspora for the annual Oxfam Hunger Banquet. 

Participants discover what their meal will look like

Chicago, Madison, Kansas City

Chicago hosted an Oxfam America Hunger Banquet with North Central College.  Stay tuned for pictures of their Hunger Banquet with Loyola University coming soon!

Madison hosted a Hunger Banquet with the University of Wisconsin Madison!

Kansas City joined with Adelaide College to host one too!

In total, Oxfam America Hunger Banquets were hosted in 8 Action Corps cities, at colleges with participating CHANGE leaders, and at a variety of high schools, community centers, and religious gatherings around the nation!


For almost 40 years Oxfam America Hunger Banquets have drawn in people of all ages, leaving participants with an unique perspective on global hunger. This year, thanks to the Oxfam Action Corps, over 600 people attended Oxfam America Hunger Banquets and experienced how global hunger affects each and every one of us.


For information on Oxfam America Hunger Banquets or how you can host your own, click here. You can also follow Oxfam Hunger Banquets on Twitter, check out events in your area, and read a first-hand report of an experience at the Boston Oxfam America Hunger Banquet to get a feel for what these events are like.

                                                     

Boston Hunger Banquet Brings Global Hunger Home

By Zoe Johannas

Once numbers get to a certain size, they almost become unfathomable. While I can picture several miles of landscape from plane window and remember my surroundings in a stadium filled with thousands of fan, the larger things get, the harder it is to understand their magnitude. It’s the same with stats. Understanding that 3.5 billion people, half the globe's population, make under $2.50 a day leaves me stunned and indignant and driven to do more, yet I can only picture a small percentage of the word "billion". I can hardly imagine the population of a city, let alone the world, and this means that something as incomprehensible as half the planet can sometimes take a back seat to the smaller, more graspable world that I can see and feel around me.

However, in a room of only 45, everyone is visible. At the Boston Action Corps’ Oxfam America Hunger Banquet, global poverty was put in context in an effective, observable, and powerful way where the planet sized numbers were brought down to size and made starkly real.

Suddenly, the numbers and statistics on global poverty became reality as only 15% of the attendees were a part of the high income group, only 35% were middle income, and the other 50%, cramped and sitting in the center of the floor, represented those in the lowest income group. Suddenly 3.5 billion was shrunk down to 24 participants with small cups of rice, with a table of only 6 looming above them with a full meal of lasagna and salad. 

Once I could see the simulated separation between the world’s poorest and wealthiest, the stats and numbers that were almost unfathomable began to resonate in a new way. Having been placed in the middle income group, I hardly felt average with my meal of rice and beans, and realized anew that half the world was sustained on much less. What was even more hard-hitting was watching the high income group- the group that consists of almost every person I interact with- consist of such a small percentage of the participants. What’s more is that this group contains even many of those who are relatively poor by US standards. The world's high income category contains everyone with an income over $12,000, a salary just over half of what constitutes the United States poverty line.

Of the others attending the events, everyone had their own interpretations and takeaways from the scene unfolding around them. While some felt guilt about being placed in the high ranks of simulated society, others wondered how we could bridge the gap between the worlds’s wealthy and poor on the global scale and make the issues so visible within one room, visible across borders and oceans. Still others talked about more practical points of the issue, discussing food aid and the roles of local NGOs, showing not only how complex poverty can be, but also how we can all play a unique role in its solution.

As a part of a nearly 40 year tradition, The Oxfam America Hunger Banquet may not have been a perfect simulation of the devastation and horrors of worldwide famine and poverty, but it was a resounding success in bringing global hunger issues home. Suddenly, 50% of a population was a visible and comprehensible statistic and I was able to put something as large as half the world into perspective like never before. I gained a new understanding of the size and mass of this issue and what it will take to overcome it. Though simulation can only make us go so far to feel the strain of poverty, it was one small step towards overcoming the common practice of keeping the hungry out of sight and out of mind. Explaining and showing this issue in a whole new way helped us to see and grasp the magnitude of this issue, and helped us begin to grapple with the monumental solution that it requires.

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To do more, I encourage you to host your own Oxfam America Hunger Banquet or vow to skip meal and donate the money you save to Oxfam. Or, for a more creative way to give back this holiday season, check out Oxfam Unwrapped to give a gift that counts

Check out some more of the pictures from the Boston Action Corps' event below: