By Raffaela Kenny-Cincotta, News Correspondent
Working alongside Northeastern’s Oxfam America Club, several Northeastern resident assistants (RA) are set to hold a hunger banquet on Dec. 2 from 5-7 p.m in 444 Curry Student Center. After a few successful banquets last year, the two groups are once again working together to continue spreading a message of poverty awareness.
The banquet, which is free for all students, will include a catered meal for up to 80 people.
A hands-on, interactive event, the Hunger Banquet is a meal designed to be a visual representation of the inequalities of wealth distribution. At the beginning of the evening, students will be randomly separated into different economic “classes” and served a dinner according to the monetary limitations of their assigned group.
Those lucky enough to land in the wealthy category will be served a restaurant style meal, while those less fortunate will enjoy a humble dish of rice and beans.
In addition to the meal, two speakers are scheduled to address students. Dr. Peter Walker of Tufts University will speak on issues of global poverty.
During an interview last Monday, Walker described his plans for his first oration at Northeastern.
“What I really want to do is talk about how famine is not just about scarcity of food. It’s all about economics and politics. I want to look at the way famine is viewed from the 1840s to today.”
When asked about the effectiveness of the banquet, Walker spoke about the impact that it may have on its participants.
“I think what you take away from the Oxfam Banquet is a sense of what it must be like to actually not have enough food. Because virtually none of us have ever had to survive that,” Walker said. “I don’t suppose that anybody in the room has ever really had to live in poverty. And it’s good to have that reminder.”
Not only will the banquet raise issues of global hunger, but it will bring attention to local poverty as well.
The second speaker at the event, Ryan Lee, is a representative from the Massachusetts-based anti-hunger organization Project Bread. According to its mission statement, Project Bread is “dedicated to alleviating, preventing, and ultimately ending hunger in Massachusetts.” ProjectBread.org asserts that there are thousands of people in the state of Massachusetts and millions nationally who cannot afford to eat regularly.
Venisse Wu, a senior economics major and one of the RAs spearheading the event, described how the incorporation of Project Bread into the banquet aims to have students become “more aware that poverty isn’t just in third world countries, that it’s also right outside your door in Boston.”
Wu also mentioned the ability of an Oxfam banquet to change an individual’s perspective of wealth and class. She explained how the success of a banquet is measured in its ability to act as a catalyst for change.
“What [students] take away from it and what they do afterward is the bigger issue, this is just one step toward [creating student activism],” she said.
To register for a free ticket to the Oxfam Hunger Banquet, visit: http://nuhungerbanquet.eventbrite.com/. Email [email protected] with any questions.
