The Interact Club was proud to announce that they not only reached maximum capacity at the annual Hunger Banquet last Friday night, but also raised well over $1,500 dollars during the event. hopes that attendance for the Hunger Banquet will reach its maximum capacity this year. For the first time in several years, the Hunger Banquet was hosted at Academy’s Brady Center North at 7:00pm on the evening of February 13.

As always, Interact members worked long and hard to ensure the success of an evening that serves to  bring about awareness of worldwide hunger. The event speakers this year included Sister Ann Regan with an opening prayer; a PowerPoint presentation about world hunger awareness by Interact Senior Members Kristina Kennedy, Gaby Mendez and Gini Barreda; and also a special guest speaker, Laura Pascetti (’07) who currently the  Vice President of the non-for profit organization, Seeds of Hope for La Victoria. This organization’s mission is to support the Schoenstatt Sisters  in their efforts to educate, provide medical care, and economic assistance to the people of La Victoria, Dominican Republic.

After the speakers presented, a tasty lasagna dinner was served – to a select few, that is. Before dinner was given to guests, they chose from a deck of cards that determined the fate of their socioeconomic status for the night. Drawing an Ace meant a First World meal with salad, lasagna, dessert and choice of beverage; drawing a King, Queen, or Jack signified the Second World nations. Guests who drew these cards were served a bowl of rice and beans with water. Finally, those who selected the number cards were placed in Third World and received a bowl of rice and a cup of water.

The purpose of this exercise is to bring about awareness of those who live in different parts of the world who are not as fortunate as most in this country. During the PowerPoint presentation, the Senior students spoke on the definition of world hunger, cleared up misconceptions, shared statistics and spoke out about how one can help bring about change to help solve the “world’s most solvable problem”.

During the event, Mrs.Kim Wiley’s class sung a song on front of the audience to promote the fight to end world hunger.  In addition, students in Interact Club put together several raffle baskets filled with wonderful prizes. Tickets to place in the baskets were available for purchase in the entrance. At the end of the Banquet, Interact members announced the winners of each prize. All in all, the Banquet was a success and earned money to give to the Rotary Club of Hyde Park to donate to the Seeds of Hope for La Victoria organization.