CALPIRG banquet to simulate global hunger

CALPIRG’s first hunger banquet will take place tonight in
an effort by students to demonstrate the realities of world
poverty.

Hosted by the California Public Interest Research Group, the
banquet ““ which will take place in Ackerman Union’s
second floor lounge at 7 p.m. ““ is expected to attract about
100 attendees. Organizers suggest that guests donate $5 to $10
each.

As the biggest event of the quarter for CALPIRG’s hunger
and homelessness relief program, the banquet was organized to help
the homeless as the holidays approach.

The banquet will replicate global hunger circumstances in order
to educate participants about the effects of poverty around the
world, event organizers said.

Upon entering the event, attendees will receive a ticket
determining their class status in the world.

The meal they receive will correspond with their ticket.

In order to demonstrate real-world poverty, only 15 percent of
the guests will receive a full-course meal.

That number is followed by 30 percent receiving a middle-class
meal and 55 percent receiving a lower-class meal.

The food for the banquet was provided in the form of donations
from local restaurants and bakeries in Westwood, which helped to
reduce the cost of the event.

All money raised from donations will be donated to the Los
Angeles Mission homeless shelter.

Considering that the suggested donation for each guest is
between $5 and $10, and that it only costs the shelter $1.77 to
feed a homeless person for Thanksgiving, the donations gathered at
UCLA could go a long way during the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday,
said Sarah Tin, the coordinator of CALPIRG’s hunger and
homelessness relief program at UCLA.

In order to help the students better understand the issues of
poverty and homelessness, there will be two speakers present at the
event.

One of the speakers will be Biola Shofu, who experienced
homelessness firsthand when she could not pay her bills and started
to live out of her car as a single mother with three children.

“What people don’t know is that with prices going up
and welfare going down, families are the fastest growing segment
within the homeless community,” Tin said.

“The speakers will help give homelessness a human
face” she added.

CALPIRG’s hunger and homelessness relief program will put
on the Hunger Cleanup in April, their biggest event of the past
year that raised $20,000 statewide.

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