The cost to enter today’s Hunger Banquet is a minimum donation of $3 or 10 cans of food, but what you get in return will vary widely – except perhaps for a lesson in the world’s food and wealth distribution.
Each fall, Volunteer ETSU sponsors a Hunger Banquet in conjunction with National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. This year’s banquet will be Nov. 16 from 6-8 p.m. in D.P. Culp Center’s Ballroom Right.
During the event, which is open to the public, participants will be handed a sheet of paper with a written synopsis that explains their situation in life, some of which are taken from real examples.
For example, one may say “You are a single mom with three kids, struggling to make ends meet.” Another, “You are the CEO of a million-dollar company.” Guests will then be seated and served according to their hypothetical situation.
“There are different places for the upper, middle and lower-class,” said freshman Amber Preston, who is chairing the event for Volunteer ETSU.
Those designated in the upper class will be served a three-course meal of lasagna, bread, salad and dessert, those designated in the lower class will receive only rice and dirty water.
“It’s food coloring so it’s not real, but it can still make you lose your appetite,” Preston said.
Of the 200 guests who are expected to attend the banquet, most will be seated in the lower class.
“Unfortunately, that’s where most of the people go, because that’s the majority in the world,” Preston said.
“It’s a dramatic interactive dinner for people to see and feel first-hand the effects of poverty, hunger and homelessness,” said Inga Ragozina, a master’s student of professional communication and graduate assistant for volunteer programs, who is helping plan the event.
In a letter to the Federal Housing Board last July, found on the Appalachian Regional Coalition on Homelessness Web site, R. Dan Rosenbaum, president of the board of directors for ARCH, wrote that the Northeast Tennessee region includes Hancock County, the seventh poorest county in the nation; Greene County with, “an unemployment rate consistently above that of the state average,” and Unicoi County, where 51 percent of the land is state or federal park/reserve, making it unavailable for housing.
“The persistent lack of safe, decent, permanent and affordable housing options for the working poor in our communities; for the veterans who answered their nation’s call; for person’s seeking a way out of homelessness; and for persons with mental illness and co-occurring disorders is a crisis in Tennessee,” Rosenbaum wrote.
In addition to the meal, a panel of speakers, including a representative from the ARCH, will discuss with the participants possible solutions to homelessness and the hunger problem, both locally and globally.
“One man is an example of a success story. He used to be homeless, but now he has a job,” Preston said.
All monetary donations and canned food items will benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank, and a booth will be set up after the event to provide information about other ways students can help eliminate hunger problems and homelessness in the community.
For more information contact Joy Fulkerson at 439-8328 or e-mail 8serv@etsu.edu.

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