Hunger, Homelessness and Poverty at Rollins

On Tuesday, Rollins students gathered in the Galloway Room to attend the fourth annual Rollins College Oxfam Hunger Banquet. Hosted by JUMP (Join Us in Making Progress), the Hunger Banquet was an interactive depiction of how food and other resources are unequally distributed around the world. The event aims to raise awareness on college campuses of the epidemics of poverty and hunger around the world. Assistant Director of the Office of Community Engagement Meredith Hein said that the goal of the evening was to "educate the community on global poverty, as well as their own community in regard to poverty, hunger, and homelessness." The event featured several speakers from Rollins and others from community organizations focusing on hunger and homelessness in the area. The night began with Dean of the Faculty Laurie Joyner addressing the issue of homelessness from a sociological perspective. She spoke on the structural deficiencies in America in terms of creating a plagued cycle that perpetuates homelessness.

Chris Goyzueta spoke to the students in attendance about his non-profit organization, Rock for Hunger. Rock for Hunger is a group that puts on concerts to benefit the victims of world hunger. Executive Director of the Christian Service Center, Robert Stuart addressed the community's role in fixing poverty and homelessness. The Christian Service Center has served more than 3 million meals to the hungry of our community through its Daily Bread Program.

The interactive experience played out in how the Galloway Room was divided. Students were divided into three sections: the upper class, the middle class, and the lower class. Only a handful of people sat in the upper class while the majority of students in attendance had to sit on the floor as the lower class. These sections represented global divisions of wealth. For dinner, members of the upper class were served an extravagant three-course dinner. Those in the middle class were only allowed to eat rice and beans. Finally, the lower class members seated on the floor were served single slices of bread.

Rollins Professor of Political Science Daniel Chong ended the evening with a talk about the systemic problems of our government that impede our ability to address world poverty. He stressed the opportunities students have to change the world and impact major issues like world hunger.

For many students, the evening was an emotionally moving experience, and it certainly served to enlighten a good portion of campus as to the problems that face our generation. Melanie Gnecco (Class of 2010) summed up the sentiment of those in attendance by saying, "after tonight, I'll appreciate my life more."



Some Statistics about Hunger and Poverty:

Nearly 732,000 people sought help from local food pantries and soup kitchens last year (many of them were families with young children).

Approximately 55,000 different people receive assistance in any given week.

47 percent of the members of households served by Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida are children.

55 percent of clients served by Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida report having to choose between paying for food and paying for utilities.

39.7 percent of all clients had a household income less than $10,000