Join Other Students for Pit Sleep-In or Attend Hunger Banquet

I want to lay out some statistics for you.

Within the United States, 25 percent to 40 percent of homeless people work, 37 percent are families with children, 25 percent are children, 25 percent to 30 percent are mentally disabled, 30 percent are veterans, and 40 percent are drug or alcohol dependent. Most of the time a missed paycheck, health crises or an unpaid bill is the final straw toward a family becoming homeless.

These are statistics found on the back of the Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week brochure, and the Campus Y HOPE committee, the sponsor of the week, got the statistics from the Web site http://www.worldhungeryear.org.

Another unsettling statistic is that one out of 12 people worldwide is malnourished, including 160 million children under the age of 5 -- these are from United Nations Food and Agriculture.

Now I know that statistics can be warped and suited to mean just about anything.

But I also know that anyone who keeps up with current events and watches the news is aware that these statistics are close enough to count.

It's a serious problem, one we've got plenty of in this land of plenty -- the United States of America.

How aware are any of us?

How much do we allow ourselves to leave our comfort zones and ponder the amount of suffering some people go through on a daily basis?

I don't leave my comfort zone nearly often enough, so I'll be going to spend the night at the Pit Sleep-In on this Sunday from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m.

And the next morning, I think I'll go to the Hunger Banquet at 6 p.m. Feb. 6 and "eat as the world eats."

These are little things; they're meant to make us aware, and if we are aware we just might care enough to try doing something to help.

I just want to encourage everyone who reads this to try some of these things too. Come by the Campus Y, pick up a brochure.

You've got a whole week to share in it with other students -- Feb. 3 through Feb. 7.

Andy Weeks
Junior
English