Student organizations at Catawba College are working together to coordinate the institution's second annual Hunger Banquet, scheduled at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 26 in Peeler-Crystal Lounge on campus.

The event, planned by Volunteer Catawba, will draw student participation from on-campus organizations such as the Delphinian Society, a service organization for women. Proceeds from Hunger Banquet tickets sales will benefit Oxfam America (www.oxfamamerica.org), an organization which works to end hunger, poverty and injustice.

Guests to the banquet draw tickets at random which assign them to either a high, middle or low-income tier seat and they receive a corresponding meal based on their ticket. Fifteen percent in the high-income tier are served a full meal, 35 percent in the middle-income section eat a simple meal of soup, and 50 percent in the low-income tier eat rice and drink water. Guests also assume characterizations that describe the situation of a specific person at the income level to which they've been assigned.

This year, a speaker from Rowan Helping Ministries will discuss hunger in the Rowan-Salisbury community. After the meal, all guests are encouraged to share their thoughts on how the random ticket designations and their corresponding meals made them feel.
 
Tickets to the Hunger Banquet are available for $2 each or for a student meal exchange for that evening. Contact Amy Keller, Catawba's coordinator of community and service learning – NC Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA, at (704) 637-4748 or Emily Hoffman, Volunteer Catawba's coordinator for special events, by e-mail at ehoffman@catawba.edu.

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