Not The Hunger Games

Hungry? At a banquet?

You’re right. That doesn’t make any sense, but that’s exactly what some of us experienced recently at an event called The Hunger Banquet.

Staff and students were split into four separate classes: homeless, lower class, middle class, and upper class. Watching how our groups interacted with each other could easily be correlated to how people truly act in the Illinois class distribution. We saw those in the homeless group mad and feeling slighted for not receiving any food — yet they were too proud to beg those in the upper class for any. In contrast, those in the in the upper class became extremely picky about the food that was served to them — even to the point of exchanging their desserts to something that they liked better.

One guy in my discussion group had been a part of the upper class and suggested (to his table) that they give their desserts to the lower class. The rest of his table disagreed, and basically said, “We’ve earned this, so we should enjoy it.” Similar to what the true upper class thinks regarding what they have over what the lower class has.

The goal of The Hunger Banquet was to shed light on the different classes in our society — particularly homelessness. It wasn’t a true banquet, where one expects to be fed lavishly. We didn’t just learn about hunger, we experienced it. For a short evening, we experienced class disparity. We experienced being wealthy and poor (at least with food). Some people enjoyed a nice meal and left with extra food to take home while others only received a bowl of rice.

The Hunger Banquet panel shared their personal experiences with homelessness and talked about what dealing with poverty should look like as a Christian. Ultimately, the biggest impact came not from the words the panel spoke — not because they weren’t powerful and true —but  from watching some of our peers eat lavishly or watching some of our peers sit at a table with close to nothing. This isn’t something any of us want to experience. But now, because of this event, we can be a little more understanding in the way we interact with the homeless.


Christine Hartley and Kay Heiberger