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A&M project puts hunger woes on the table

4/12/08

Courtesy The Eagle

Texas A&M University senior Sydney McKinney has fasted during mission trips, but she never has truly been hungry.

The 22-year-old education major has never had to go without food because she couldn't afford groceries. And she never has experienced the dreadful feeling of wondering where her next meal will come from.

"I think in our sheltered American lives that we kind of lose sight of the rest of the world," McKinney said. "We don't realize that people in America and outside of America really struggle with this every day because we have everything handed to us."

This semester, McKinney -- with about 140 of her senior education classmates -- took part in a community service project designed to raise awareness of worldwide hunger.

The project -- "Be Seen. Be Heard. Be Hungry." -- called for the students in the Together We Learn senior methods program to spend 30 hours fasting and, during the same time, volunteer at the Brazos Food Bank.

Karla Eidson, a faculty member in the College of Education and Human Development's department of teaching, learning and culture, leads the class, which undertakes a different service project each semester, she said.

"We took the idea of world hunger and looked at the numbers coming out of Africa and then brought it home, down to the community and really to the classroom," Eidson said, explaining that the students researched the problem throughout the semester.

Eidson said the students were split into eight groups, each with a leader responsible for tracking newspaper and magazine articles on world hunger.

The students also made collages, and each was required to purchase a bag of food to be donated to the hungry, she said.

The students volunteered March 3 in two-hour intervals, said Louis Martinez, volunteer coordinator with the Brazos Food Bank. At any given time, he said, at least 30 students were scurrying about the facility, sorting food and stuffing backpacks to be delivered through the Meals on Wheels program.

The food bank delivers about 150 bags each week to Meals on Wheels, Martinez said. The students stuffed roughly 900 bags.

Volunteering at the food bank on the day that they were fasting seemed to give many of the students a better idea of what it feels like to go hungry, Martinez said.

The problem isn't limited to the homeless and the poor, Martinez said. Many food bank customers are middle-class parents who just can't afford food when faced with the rising costs of gas and other expenses, he said..

Hopefully, he said, it helped the students realize that situations change quickly and that anyone can end up without enough money for food.

"This could easily happen to any one of us," Martinez said.

Eidson said the experience did seem to make a difference for many of the students.

"I just think it's important for [the community] to know students at A&M are always looking for ways to give back to the community," Eidson said. "These are our future leaders. They're really a great crop of kids."