Fast goes slow

After 24 hours without food, Rachel Weston was hungry but determined to remain so.

As she worked at a car-wash fundraiser with a group of other young Catholics in a Guilderland parking lot, scents from a nearby sandwich shop drifted over. But she kept on working, even though it "smelled like heaven," she said.

Rachel was among 85 teenagers at St. Madeleine Sophie parish who took part in a recent "30-Hour Famine."

Solidarity

The teens drank only juice to learn firsthand about the effects of hunger, and to raise money for World Vision, a Christian charity working to end hunger and poverty across the world. Half-party and half-prayer service, the annual event raised around $15,000 for World Vision last year.

The teenagers participated in icebreakers and community-builders, wrote letters to missionaries and thank-you notes to donors, watched movies, and took part in social activities.

They also volunteered to help the residents at a local assisted-living facility, walked door-to-door to solicit donations and conducted the car wash. One group also went to a religious-goods shop to help unpack a shipment; 20 percent of the shop's profits that day were donated to the students' efforts.

The teens knew why they were making the effort. "Many people die every hour because of hunger; hundreds of kids for every kid here," agreed Jess Terzian, a ninth-grader.

Effects of fasting

While it wasn't easy to abstain from food, seventh-grader Jessica Marini said that the rapid-fire activities "keep you so busy, you don't even think about the food."

Still, hunger left seventh-grader Carli Barbarotto "tired" and "drained," while tenth-grader Andrea Weinberg lost much of her energy. Ninth-grader Lauren Napoli said that going without food was "awful" and wished people she talked to could know "how bad it is to go hungry for a long time."

When Rachel's stomach rumbled with hunger, thinking of the reason became a powerful antidote for her. "You're hungry, but then you think of the kids who are poor, and you can hold it for five more hours," she said.

"It feels weird to function without food," Andrea, a member of a Reformed Church. "These are just the earliest stages of starvation, and it's already killing me."

Raising funds

The teens employed a variety of ways to raise money. Lauren sent a letter to her mother's Christmas list and netted nearly $1,000. Andrea asked her teachers. Jess went to family and friends, while ninth-grader Garrett Cherry sent out email after email.

Many teens were involved in the famine for the third or fourth time, including Briana Stevens, a ninth-grader who said it "gets easier" as time goes by.

The chance to work together as a team with friends both old and new, she said, helped participants "take pride in what we were accomplishing," and volunteering "made it real for us."

Breaking fast

Before a closing feast prepared by parents and volunteers, the students attended the parish's Vigil Mass. After communion, they spoke to parishioners about their experience and read descriptions about what daily life is like for four young children the participants had "adopted" financially.

For Andrea, the teens' appeal to the community highlighted the fact that, for many teens, the event was more than a fun time; it was a "community effort. Everyone who donated does equal parts with the people who are physically here."

For many teens, the fast can be "amazing," according to the parish's youth minister, Laura Conroy. "They take it seriously, and they get an understanding of what hunger is like while, at the same time, helping the community. Our numbers grow so much through kids telling others that 'you've got to do this.'"

(5/18/06) [[In-content Ad]]