ECC Experiences The Hunger Banquet

Lisa Lillianstrom

On March 8, Elgin Community College’s Student Life hosted the Hunger Banquet, which was an experience to learn more about hunger, poverty, food insecurity and what can be done to help those who need it the most.

The event started out with a video talking about statistics including the fact that 14,000 people among the areas of South Elgin and Elgin live in poverty. Also, generally 1 in 7 people live in poverty.

“I think the solution to solving hunger goes down to the roots of people and human nature. Loving others and putting one’s self in their perspective is key,” said student and attendee Mitchell Celicious.

Another part of the event had people looking at signs which had different facts and quotes about poverty. Attendees would then go around and put little post-it notes saying their reactions to the facts and what they think can be done to help those people out.

“There are several people here on campus who are food insecure, and on the face of it, we just don’t see it,” said student and volunteer Jeremy Robles.

The speaker at the event was Professor David Carrillo, primarily expressing ways to bring awareness to poverty that does exist.

“I hope people who attended the event learned something about awareness, we go to school with people who are affected by it, it is in our community, its everywhere,” Carrillo said.

The attendees then were split up into three different sections. Everyone randomly got different colors, which indicated where they would eat and what they would eat that night. Red symbolized upper class, blue symbolized middle class and green symbolized the lower class.

A highlight of the event was when some of the people from the upper class gave food to the people who are in the lower class; some of the people in the upper class had already eaten before and they didn’t want to see the food go to waste. Food wasting was another topic that was talked about, as this is a prevalent issue.

“I’m truly hoping those who attended give a second thought about the food they waste if they don’t already,” Celicious said.

At the end of the event, Robles talked about the fact that the Spartan Food Pantry is open for those who need it.

“I don’t think it’s possible to end hunger, but there are several things to do to help reduce hunger little by little. One of the simplest things you can do is add a canned good to your cart when you go grocery shopping. A canned item is less than a dollar, and if everyone donated a can after they go shopping, pantries can go a long way being stocked from those cans,” Robles said.

Carrillo gave some advice to those who may be dealing with food insecurity, and that one of the most common reasons people don’t ask for help is because of pride.

“Know your resources, put away your pride, and know that there are people that have been in the same situation as you, asking for assistance does not make you less of a person,” Carrillo said.