By Matt Carlstrom
Round Table reporter
Several Middletown High School students have chosen to skip a meal on Oct. 20 in order to remember children affected by world hunger.
Students who attend Evangelical Lutheran Church Zion in Middletown were exposed to the idea by being introduced to the national program One Meal One Day, run by the Christian child sponsorship organization Compassion International. Compassion International works to eliminate childhood poverty worldwide.
MHS senior Linda Billotti felt that participating in the program would be a simple way to express her empathy for starving children. “Compassion International is a good organization and I am so fortunate with all that I have,” Billotti said. “So if I could skip just one meal and help to feed starving children, why wouldn’t I?”
In addition to skipping one of their meals during the day, students also collected funds from others to sponsor starving children. According to onemealoneday.com, thirteen dollars is enough to feed one child for a month.
“I raised $117,” Billotti said. “It feels great knowing that I am helping feed nine kids just by asking for donations.”
Approximately 1.02 billion people suffer from hunger internationally, as measured by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization.
ELC Zion’s high school sunday school teacher Nan Walker, a teacher at the Maryland School for the Deaf, came across the program through a friend that works for Compassion International.
“The One Meal One Day program was started by teens, for teens as a way to get worldwide attention focused on the problem of hunger and to raise money to combat this problem within the context of demonstrating the love of Christ by feeding the poor,” Walker said.
Walker feels that by exposing MHS students to the organization’s programs, she can encourage youth activism and interest in the community to fight world issues, regardless of their religious beliefs.
“We are so blessed in Middletown with abundance. For many of us, the idea of hunger is when our stomachs growl in the morning before breakfast. Even though skipping only one meal is not near what the starving experience, at least when our stomachs growl we can think of those who don’t have enough to eat day after day,” said Walker.
As donations for the One Meal One Day program are being collected through Oct. 22, the amount of money raised so far has not yet been determined.
However, by giving up a meal on oct. 20, several MHS students certainly have inspired their classmates to understand the pain experienced by those less fortunate that themselves.
Walker is extremely proud of the students that participated, and is optimistic about the effects it will have on the community.
“It’s a simple concept, and, who knows, it may spark an idea in a Middletown teen to find a creative way to make a difference,” Walker said.
