Westminster College to host hunger banquet

By Harold Gwin

Half of those attending dinner will get only beans and rice and sit on the floor.

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. — Your $5 ticket will get you in the door, but will it buy you a poor man’s dinner of beans and rice or a rich man’s dinner of steak and shrimp?

The choice is in the luck of the draw as Westminster College hosts a Hunger Banquet at 5 p.m. March 4 in the Witherspoon Rooms of the McKelvey Campus Center. The event is open to the public by advance-ticket purchase.

The event is the outgrowth of the campus ministry and community forming a “Hands for Haiti” relief initiative following the devastating earthquake in that nation, said Diane Gabriel, campus chapel executive secretary.

The college and ministry knew students would get involved in fund-raising efforts to assist people in Haiti and helped set up the “Hands for Haiti” project which will benefit three agencies — OxFam America, World Vision and Partners in Health, international organizations dedicated to easing world hunger and other issues.

All three were already on the ground and active in the Haitian relief effort, making them likely venues to providing direct assistance, she said.

This dinner will specifically provide funds to assist OxFam.

Westminster’s Circle K International and Newman Club student organizations, the Chapel staff and Sodexo Dining Services are participating. All proceeds from the dinner will be split 50-50 between OxFam’s efforts in Haiti and its World Hunger program, Gabriel said.

Tickets must be purchased by Friday and can be secured only by calling the Chapel office at (724) 946-7117.

Diners entering the event will draw a ticket at random that identifies them as part of the 50 percent low-income people in the world, 35 percent middle-income people or 15 percent high-income people.

Half of those attending the dinner will draw the low-income ticket and eat a meal consisting basically of beans and rice while sitting on the floor, Gabriel said.

Only 15 percent of those in attendance will get the high-income meal of steak and shrimp. The 35 percent in the middle will get more of a traditional American dinner, she said.

At the end of the meal, everyone will share in a nice dessert, she added.

Student actors will be roaming the dinner, portraying people of various income-levels from around the world as a way to draw attention to the world-hunger issue, Gabriel said. The event will last for 90 minutes and also will feature a video produced by OxFam.

OxFam is an international relief and development organization committed to issues that include world hunger and poverty.

gwin@vindy.com