Oxfam Hunger Banquet 2012

On Nov. 15, the Columbus Action Corps partnered with the Salvation Army of Central Ohio and the Foundation for the African Diaspora for our annual Oxfam Hunger Banquet. This year's theme was "Oxfam Hunger Banquet: We're all connected through hunger."

The event at the Bexley Public Library, 2411 E. Main St., was a great success with more than 20 people from six different organizations attending and taking part in the activity. Each year, we try to engage the central Ohio community through the role-playing exercise that has participants randomly draw characters to portray for the duration for the hunger banquet.  Participants fall into one of three categories, the high-income earners, 15 percent of the group, middle-income earners, 35 percent, and low-income earners, 50 percent.

Below are some photos taken by Sandra Smith of the Foundation for the African Diaspora.

The middle-income table had access to a pitcher of water as well as white rice and black beans. A measuring spoon and small cup were used to evenly divide up the food items.

The low-income table had only a shared container of white rice and a bowl of water among them.  After  distributing their plain food around the table, the only high-income person decided to share his pasta, bread, veggies and dessert with the low- and middle-income groups.

After the hunger banquet ended, the audience watched a 5-minute video about women helping to resolve climate change issues in Ethiopia and then listened to two PowerPoint presentations-- one from Sandra Smith and the other from the Salvation Army of Central Ohio. 

We ended our interactive meeting with a comprehensive and thought-provoking discussion on hunger as both a local and global issue.

The event was very successful and the action corps offers sincere thanks for all those who helped plan it and those who chose to take part. 

Jessica J. Burchard, Oxfam Columbus Action Corps Co-Leader 2012-13.