Hands on with hunger

RATHDRUM - Lakeland High students are taking a hands-on approach to raise awareness about world hunger.

Adsideo, a student-led club that focuses on community service, will present an educational hunger banquet Thursday at the Lakeland High commons from 6-7:30 p.m.

"The goal is to teach people how they themselves can help (with world hunger)," Lakeland student Amanda Haug said. "The banquet will hopefully be an experience that people will keep in their minds after the event has happened.

"We've decided to make the hunger banquet more about making an impact and educating people rather than trying to raise a certain amount of money."

The public is invited and $2 tickets can be purchased at the Lakeland High office or at the door.

Attendees will be divided into three economic groups.

Fifteen percent will receive a story card, identifying them as upper class, which on a global scale is a little more than $9,000 per year. They will receive a three-course meal of chicken, rice pilaf, beans, dessert and a beverage at a table.

Twenty-five percent will be middle class, meaning they make between $911 and $9,000 per year. They will be seated on chairs and go through a food line with rice and beans with clean water, representing a typical meal for such a class.

Sixty percent will be identified as making less than $911 per year and about $2.50 per day, which is representative of the world's population. They will be asked to sit on the floor around big bowls of rice and have the rice dished into their hands with a cup of "contaminated" water (tea leaves in clean water).

After the meal, keynote speaker and author Jaiya John will speak on "We feed them, but not us." John was born into foster care, later adopted, and has spent his lifetime working worldwide with uprooted children and those who mentor and raise them.

John's message is that compassion is recognizing that others are part of us.

"Their suffering is a reflection of our own - past, now and soon to come," he wrote. "Their joy is an echo of our own emanation. World hunger is literally a condition of the human whole."

During the event, donations to the world hunger organization Oxfam International will be accepted.

John will also present a free symposium on Wednesday at Lakeland High from 3:30-5 p.m. to pay tribute to those who work with youth. Everyone who works with youth, including teachers, social workers and ministerial staff, are invited.

The first 100 guests will receive a free copy of John's book "Legendary."