Monday, November 12, 2007

Wilmington, N.C.-Students and faculty in the Department of Social Work at the University of North Carolina Wilmington, in partnership with the Center for Leadership Education and Service, will host a Hunger Banquet as part of National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, November 11-17.

The banquet will be held from 6-8 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 14, in the Warwick Center Ballroom on the UNC Wilmington campus.

Hunger Banquets, recommended by Oxfam America, dramatize the unequal distribution of food in the world. Participants are randomly assigned to one of three socio-economic levels that represent proportional global standards of living. Out of every 100 people, 15 enjoy a full-course meal, 25 sit in a simple setting and eat a meager meal (such as rice and beans), and the remaining 60 share rice, without utensils, while sitting on the floor.

We want to bring attention to the different groups of people that often go hungry, particularly the homeless," said UNCW social work student Christina Malu, one of the organizers of the event. "Issues of hunger and poverty are so much more real to people when they experience them first-hand."

WHEN: 6-8 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007

WHERE: Warwick Center Ballroom, UNC Wilmington campus

WHAT: UNCW Hunger Banquet

Media contacts:

Christina Malu, student, Department of Social Work, 910-381-8438 or cym6933@uncw.edu

Dana Fischetti, manager of media relations, UNC Wilmington, 910.962.7250 or fischettid@uncw.edu

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