For 30 hours members of Gingellville Community Church got a taste of what it was like to be one of the more than 850 million people around that world that don’t have an enough to eat.
On April 25-26, the group joined the efforts of hundreds of thousands of young people nationwide that set aside daily life and decided to ‘Be Hungry.?
According to Gingellville Pastor Josh Yates, prior to the event weekend, students raised funds with the knowledge that every $30 they raised could help feed and care for a child for a month.
‘The 30-Hour Famine has a lasting impact, not just on the children and families receiving life-changing food and care, but also on participants who view their own potential to affect change very differently afterward,? said National Director of the World Vision 30-Hour Famine, Debbie Diederich.
The Famine not only featured the struggles the poor face in regards to food, but many other trials people around the world face.
Friday started out with a game called Tribe, where each participant took on the persona of a child in Africa and just about every student received a ‘disability.?
‘Some are blind; others don’t have the use of a limb; some lost one eye,? Yates said. ‘Then all of the games point us toward actual disasters or life situations that teach about the life that most children deal with.?
Also on Friday, the group slept outside on cardboard boxes ‘in order to identify what it’s really like to be homeless on Friday night,? he said.
Events continued on Saturday morning with a canned food scavenger hunt to support GCC’s HOPE ministry, a ministry that gives food and some funds to those in need in our community.
Later that day, the participants performed ‘Random Acts of Kindness? to those in service jobs in the community, reminding them that they are noticed and appreciated, according to Yates.
For more information about the 30-Hour Famine, visit online at www.30hourfamine.org or call (800)7-FAMINE.