Imagine arriving for a dinner and finding that’s it "the luck of the draw" whether you’ll get a gourmet meal — or a bowl of rice. Des Moines Christian School is having a "Hunger Banquet" this weekend, inviting guests to take that chance. Senior Moriah Lutz-Tveite says she got the idea last fall, when she attended a Global Youth Institute sponsored by the Iowa-based World Food Prize program.
The participants attended a "Hunger Banquet" at the institute and the high-schooler was impressed. She went to her superintendent and asked permission to organize one at Des Moines Christian. She says he was supportive so she’s been working ever since to get this event off the ground. Organizers just plan a nice dinner, she says, and invite people to buy tickets. When they arrive, the element of chance comes in.
They draw a card and at random place participants into one of three "socio-economic groups." That group will determine whether they’re nothing but a bowl of rice, or a dish of rice and beans, or a three-course meal. She says it’s to dramatize the world hunger crisis, showing how many people have too little to eat. The event was postponed by winter storms in February and is being held tonight.