Youth group hosts 30-hour fast to raise awareness
By Angela Greiner Community Reporter

Hudson - For 20 local teens, pizza and soda were out of the question this past weekend, when they endured a 30-hour fast. The teens, who are part of the United Methodist Church Youth Group, decided to participate in the fast, beginning March 29, as part of the church's commitment to the work of "World Vision."

Pastor Doug Robinson Johnson explained that World Vision is an international Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to eliminating poverty.

"You have to experience what other people experience and it is then when you can truly identify that true justice happens," Johnson said.

While fasting together during the event, each of the teens was given a handicap or injury that to overcome while completing a task. Some of the obstacles the students attempted included carrying water on their head and attempting to cross a river.

Alex Brier, who attended the event, explained that while carrying water, they had relays that included adding things like rocks and potatoes to the water. The activity demonstrated how precious clean water was because in many counties families use the same water for everything from drinking and cooking to washing.

"[By the end] the water was so filthy and it was dripping all over our faces … yet we were savoring every drop," Brier said.

Angela Baker, volunteer fasting facilitator, explained that, as part of the awareness program, the church was decorated with 2,900 cutouts of children, each representing 10 children.

"Each day 29,000 children under 5, equivalent to the population of Hudson, dies from hunger," Baker said.

To make the statistic even more comprehensible for the students, during the fast, they held a 30-minute candle light vigil to pray for the 600 children around the world that would die from hunger during that half hour. Every minute of prayer was for the 20 children who would die in that minute.

In an eff ort to bring the plight of the hungry back home, the group leaders took the students on a driving tour of the Hudson area to visit homeless shelters and the Food Pantry.

Student Alyssa Dalton was shocked by the local need.

"I never would have guessed that hunger was such a big problem, especially locally," she said. "We pass it by every day."

The group plans to join the eff ort to save a few lives both locally and internationally. Some of the early plans involve raising money to sponsor a family for $30 a month as well as a local push to give aid to the Food Pantry.

Several of the students were struck by the amount of food that they throw out and what it would mean to a family in a third-world country.

"We take so much for granted," Brier said.

Baker said she hoped the strongest message that the kids would leave with was one of compassion and awareness.

"Our Christian walk is the way to light the world one candle at a time," Baker said.