Ridgefield Academy students at the hunger banquet.
When students at Ridgefield Academy entered the lunchroom a few weeks ago, half of them were made to sit on the floor and were given small portions of rice and water for lunch. Most of the other half were given rice and beans, and only 15% were given a well-balanced meal.
It was all to let them experience global food and nutrition disparity firsthand and was part of the school’s third annual Oxfam Hunger Banquet.
At lunchtime, students entered the dining area and drew tickets assigning them to an income tier — high, middle or low — that reflected the latest global statistics on the number of people living in poverty. Children with high-income-level tickets ate with utensils; low-income ticket holders ate with their hands.
“We dedicated an entire day to the ‘learning’ aspect of service learning for this program,” said Kate Howell, Ridgefield Academy’s service learning coordinator. “In addition to taking a look at global hunger, we had speakers from the Connecticut Food Bank come and do sessions for all students, grades four through eight, that centered around hunger on a local level. We also addressed nutrition and health facts faced by those who experience food insecurity. All students watched the movie A Place at the Table, participated in the Hunger Banquet and a few advisory sessions … and created a square word-art ‘patch’ that is now on display outside of our dining area.”
“I felt sad and angry, knowing that people have to live this way every day,” said one student with a low-income ticket. Others explained that the experience made them realize how lucky they were to “come home to a meal every day.”
At the end of the program, students received a healthy snack to ensure that they were well nourished for their afternoon activities.
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