Thursday, March 13, 2008
- Eric McClenahan
Recently I signed our high school group up to participate in a 30 hour famine. I've never been a part of one before, and I was very interested to see what its all about. I received a box in the mail full of cds, dvds, posters, flyers, and booklets the other day, and my heart what deeply saddened. See, the core of 30 hour famine is great. It's meant to raise awareness in our teens on what it means to be hungry, and it's also a way to raise money for kids in third world countries who are dying from hunger. When you think about hunger statistics in our world, it's absolutely staggering. 854 million people are starving. 10.5 million 0-5 year olds die per year from hunger-related issues. Three billion people in our world make less than $2 a day. This should cause us to act. This should cause us to move. This should cause us to give.
My heart was saddened by the facts, but what saddened me even more was the way they were promoting the fundraising for the high school kids. There is a section on the collection envelopes called "My Rewards." Here it spells out all the rewards you can earn by collecting a certain amount of money. Raise $90 and get a wristband. $180 will earn you a t-shirt. Raise $720 and you get the wristband, the t-shirt, a hat, and a computer bag!! What are we teaching our kids? Since when is serving God and each other about winning a t-shirt? Can we seriously do nothing without some kind of prize or reward? Are we that selfish? Raising $720 would feed one kids for two years. TWO YEARS! It's sad to me that feeding a kid for two years is a less marketable prize than a wristband, a t-shirt, a hat, and a computer bag.
This year, we will be doing 30 hour famine as a high school group. Our goal is not to walk away with a bunch of t-shirts and computer bags. Our goal is to raise money for kids who need to eat...and they can take the t-shirt we win and give them to kids who are cold.