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Teens endure 30-Hour Famine to help feed hungry children
By Ambria Hammel, The Catholic Sun
March 6, 2008
CHANDLER — More than 40 local teenagers recently joined the 850 million people who go to bed hungry somewhere in the world every day.
Members of St. Mary’s junior high and high school religious education programs went without food for more than a day, staving off hunger pains and whiffs of a neighborhood barbecue during their 30-Hour Famine Feb. 23-24. The experience, sponsored by World Vision, helped the teens get a real taste of hunger.
“We’re choosing to do this. Some people don’t have a choice,” junior Dominic Lopez said.
St. Mary’s teens chose to go hungry over the weekend as their way of recognizing an injustice that they were helping others overcome. The teens’ hunger pains translated to dollar signs for children facing constant famine worldwide.
Some teens secured sponsors who pledged $1 for every hour the teens fasted. The teens raised more than $350 during the 30-Hour Famine.
“God’s work is not always easy. We have to smile and spread love through our suffering,” said Anthony Gleich, coordinator of youth ministry at St. Mary’s.
“Sharing in someone’s suffering allows us to be more engaged in the action of alleviating the injustice,” said Myrna Gutierrez, communication manager for World Vision. The Christian humanitarian organization helps youth tackle the root causes of poverty and injustice.
St. Mary’s teens imposed another form of suffering on themselves during the famine by sleeping in cardboard boxes on the parish’s softball field. Freshman Athena Lovely expected the toughest part to be sleeping on such an empty stomach, but she got through it.
The youth began their fast at 11 a.m. It ended with the Eucharist during the teen Mass the following evening.
“I learned how it felt to be hungry and then understood how the kids in Africa feel every day,” Lovely said.
The money from St. Mary’s youth — along with funds raised by more than 800 other students throughout the Phoenix area who went hungry the same weekend — will help feed residents of North Korea and across southern Africa. Recent floods in both areas destroyed crops and livestock creating widespread food shortages.
“They don’t deserve any of that,” seventh-grader Paola Carrasco said of the devastation. “We have a chance to show them that we actually care about them.”
Gleich agreed.
“We’re really looking at this as a pro-life activity,” Gleich said. Every $30 raised could feed one child in the flooded areas for a month.
The teens also worked to save lives in another way. During the 30-Hour Famine, the youth spent two hours praying outside of a local Planned Parenthood. They prayed for an end to abortion as part of the 40 Days for Life, a national prayer campaign waged at abortion clinics, including 12 in the Phoenix area.
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