Teens to Taste Hunger in 30 Hour Famine

By Anne Thomas, Christian Post Contributor Friday, January 19, 2007

Teens across the country will participate in the 16th annual 30 Hour Famine Feb. 23-24, forsaking food for 30 hours to get a taste of what the world's poorest children and families face everyday.

Prior to the weekend event, teens will raise funds by explaining that $30 a month - just $1 a day - can feed and care for a child for 30 days.

Energized with compassion rather than food during their fast, 30 Hour Famine participants will gather as groups (representing schools, churches, youth and civic organizations) and consume only water and fruit juices focusing only on activities such as hands-on community assistance by coordinating food drives, serving in soup kitchens, or assisting in homeless shelters.

Funds raised through 30 Hour Famine will help feed and care for children in poverty-afflicted countries around the globe.

"The 30 Hour Famine has a lasting impact, not just on the children receiving food, care and education, but on participants who view their own potential to affect change very differently afterward," said Debbie Diederich, U.S. director of the World Vision 30 Hour Famine. "Since 1992, 30 Hour Famine has raised more than $80 million, representing countless saved lives."

Last year, 30 Hour Famine raised $11.6 million. This year's goal is $12 million.

Hunger and preventable diseases claim the lives of 29,000 of the world's children a day in the midst of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a deadly humanitarian crisis in Darfur, and natural disasters around the world.

Overall, 852 million people around the world don't have enough to eat and people affected by HIV/AIDS are often less able to grow or find food to eat. In sub-Saharan Africa, 12 million children have been orphaned. People affected by HIV/AIDS are often less able to grow or find food to eat.