By Zach Bonner, Asst. News Editor
The Johnson Center for Civic Engagement, or JCCE, held their eighth annual Hunger Banquet this past Monday, November 13. The banquet is a simulation that attempts to bring exposure to worldwide food security issues to students in the campus community.
This year, junior Abbie Wolfe, student program director at the JCCE decided that she wanted to make this year’s simulation a little more relevant to issues of hunger in our local community.
“This year, what we’re really trying to do is focus on local issues,” Wolfe said, “What is food security locally, what is hunger in our area, and how does it affect me?”
According to the Governor’s Council on Food Security Survey, 67% of families in Snyder County live under the 160 percent threshold of poverty. According to Federal Poverty Level Guidelines, families of this class are qualified as having a Median House Hold Income of $25,525 to $46,425 for a family of four.
To preface the meal simulation that was prepared, Patti Snyder, the Renewed Hope Women’s Home Director and a staff member at HandUP Foundation, gave an informational talk about the phenomenon of poverty and hunger in our local community.
“[These members of our community] make choices every day,” said Patti Snyder of the HandUP Foundation, “Choices about whether they are going to get medication, or whether they are going to eat.”
According to the HandUP Foundation’s website, they are a faith-based, social-entrepreneurial, non-profit organization
based out of Milton, PA. They provide many charitable services to the communities of Synder, Lycoming, and Union counties, among others.
“I really started to get involved with these issues through the Johnson Center when I went on SPLASH,” Wolfe stated, “Sometimes we forget that there’s a world out- side of this campus and that members of our local community experience these real- world situations that I was exposed to on this trip.”
The participants in the simulation were broken up into three groups based on broad levels of income. Low income participants, those whose families are said to earn less than $1125 a year, were relegated to a floor seating, where they would be given a communal bowl of rice to eat from.
The middle income particicome falls between $1125 and $6300, were given a meal of rice and beans, chairs, and yet had to serve themselves.
The high income participants, whose median household income is greater than $6300 annually, were given a multiple course meal at dining tables, and had staff members to serve them their meals.
“A lot of the time, those of us who are unaffected by such things as a lack of food want to think that they are happening somewhere else,” Synder continued, “But they’re happening in the community in which you live.”
All of the participants were given a small amount of time to eat their meals and try to understand their role in the simulation. Then, the individual members of the simulation were allowed to speak to the group about their experiences with poverty and hunger within their own lives.
“This event usually highlights issues with world hunger,” said JCCE staff member Gabriela Marrero, “But what most students don’t realize is that these issues impact the lives of people right in our backyard.”
The JCCE offers opportunities involved with many community partners across Selinsgrove, Pennsylvania. Partners include, part are not limited to, Mostly Mutts, The Regional Engagement Center, and the Senior Center.
To get involved with the Johnson Center for Civic Engagement, you can contact Abbie Wolfe, at wolfean@susqu. edu, or Pam Frontino, at frontino@susqu.edu. You can find the JCCE’s office in the lower level of the Degenstein Campus Center for more information about current and future service programs.
