30-Hour Famine: Eat Nothing, Do Something

Written by Jeff Alexander

Death and devastation have been mainstays of the news for decades. The statistics from the poorest parts of the world are beyond grasping: more than 24,000 children under the age of 5 years die every day, most from poverty-related causes such as hunger and easily preventable disease. Almost half the world – over 3 billion people – live on less than $2.50 a day. Natural disasters, such as the earthquake in Haiti, and wars add to the misery of those without the basic means to survive. In the face of such overwhelming numbers, it is easy to throw up one’s hands and say, “What can you do?”

Fortunately, this is not a rhetorical question.

On April 16-17, the Two Mountains Community Youth Group took part in the World Vision Canada’s 30-Hour Famine, an annual event to raise funds to combat child poverty. Between 30 and 35 high school-aged teens accumulated pledges and went without food for 30 hours. During this time, we held a police-escorted candlelight march around Deux-Montagnes, did yardwork in the neighbourhood around All Saints Church for additional donations, did themed (“Peace in Understanding”) crafts and generally had a lot of fun as a group.

The TMCYG raised over $1300 towards World Vision projects around the world. A World Vision Canada representative, who came to thank the group and explain how the funds would be used, indicated that, of new groups participating in the 30-Hour Famine, ours had the largest number of participants and raised the highest amount in donations.

As an adult leader for the event, it was my privilege to see these young people give their time and effort towards such an important cause. Despite depriving themselves of food over this time, the mood among the teens was always upbeat. The event was only made possible through the Herculean efforts of Christine Sandilands, TMCYG coordinator. As well, the generosity of the community, in donations of both money and supplies for the Saturday-evening buffet, was extremely encouraging.

We look forward to even more success in 2011!

Statistics from UNICEF (www.unicef.org) and The World Bank (http://www.worldbank.org)