All I wanted to do was get lunch at Jazzman’s. I was only steps away from the line when my friend and I were flagged down by someone from the Wolfington Center asking us to sign up for one of the events during their Hunger and Homelessness Week.
Looking at the activities, I saw that my choices were a hunger banquet, a chance to give up my meals for a day and a sleep out in the commons.
My growling stomach was not agreeing with the idea of giving up my meals for a whole day, so that was out. And I wasn’t going to lie to myself; I can feel my throat start to ache the minute I hear someone within five feet coughing, so spending all night in the commons? No thanks: the hunger banquet it was.
In the mansion dining room, we were divided very unevenly; only three people at the upper-class table, less than 10 people were the middle-class and the 20 or so of us left were the poor. The uneven numbers were surprisingly accurate to the statistics of our world today.
Those of us at the wooden table were served rice and water and jealously looked on as the upper-class was served salad, spaghetti and chocolate cake. While we ate, we listened to associate professor of religious studies Dr. Suzanne Toton of Villanova University and watched a speech that Bono gave at the White House about the ONE campaign.
The basic idea behind the ONE campaign is to make the government add an additional 1 percent of their budget to solving the problem of AIDS, hunger and homelessness. The government currently gives less than 1 percent of their budget to fight this problem, so the ONE campaign is not asking for anything unreasonable.
The ONE campaign is made up of over 70 non-profit, humanitarian organizations. They have joined together to reach an internationally agreed upon goal: cut extreme poverty in half by 2015.
I started the night having no idea what the ONE campaign was. I left hoping that everyone will know about it. Fortunately, most of us at Cabrini never have and never will have to worry being homeless and hungry. It is for that reason that I think everyone should join a cause to give people across the world the chances we have.
As college students, it can be very hard to support causes that we are passionate about. It seems the only way to show support is through money.
What really did me in for the ONE campaign was the fact that it is not about how much money they can get you to give. What they want from you is your voice. Of course, wearing the white bracelet and the ONE shirt will bring awareness everywhere you go.
But the most beneficial thing you can do for this organization is lend your voice.
I urge you to go to one.org and learn more about this organization. While you are there, sign their declaration. Send your friends an e-mail asking them to do the same. Take a few minutes to remind our government that this growing problem needs to be stopped.
