Community News: Students discover realities of hunger and homelessness through personal experience

     Loyola students expressed their passion for social justice after a series of events during National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week in the third week of November.

     Kathryn Doyle, service coordinator at CCSJ for hunger and homelessness awareness, helped to organize two events for Loyola students during this week: the Hunger Banquet and the Sleep-Out. Both events educated students while causing a wide range of emotion.

     The Hunger Banquet focuses on food insecurity in the world and how hunger affects Maryland. Doyle said the Hunger Banquet,  "demonstrates how the main causes of hunger are poverty and systematic causes that exist in the world," by dividing attendees of the Banquet into three groups that represent the global community. Upon arriving, each person was handed a card representing an individual's story. They were told their incomes in real world percentages: 15% made over $9,000 per year as the wealthy class and given a three course meal, 35% were middle class with rice and beans, and 50% of the group (and the world) represented those living in poverty and ate only rice. 

     Emily Kane, a sophomore, said the event was "extremely thought-provoking and shocking." She was in the second group and noticed that at any average Loyola event, the meal served is that of the highest class. While 80% of the world lives on $2-$3 per day, "I immediately thought about how I pay more than that everyday, just for a latte at Starbuck's", said Kane.

     Kaitlyn Hammel, a sophomore who helped Doyle plan the event, was overcome with emotions by realizing how much she takes for granted. "But at the same time, I felt hopeless because I know that I can't help everyone who needs it, stated Hammel.

     This is a "human rights issue…that often gets brushed aside or ignored, but in reality, it is an inherent human right to have enough food to supply your body with the energy it needs," said Kane. She also said how the event, and the issue of food insecurity, focused her interest of social change to the Baltimore community. She said it is "irresponsible for us [Loyola students] to sit back and do nothing" when the campus is so close to those suffering.

     Doyle said, "It is not only up to us, because we are Loyola students, to care about hunger, but because we are members of the same human family." She said that she is not able to be free and fully alive if others are not, due to the "interconnectedness of humanity."

     Doyle's second event, to raise awareness for Hunger and Homelessness in the city of Baltimore, the city Sleep-Out, also called Loyola students to live out their Jesuit ideals and feel that interconnectedness.

     Nov. 19 was the second annual city-wide sleep-out outside City Hall. It invited students, agency employees, and individuals currently or formerly experiencing homelessness to sleep outside for one night to be in solidarity with the 4,000 that sleep on the streets of Baltimore each night. Doyle had been planning the event since July with other colleges throughout the area, such as UMBC, Goucher, Morgan State, Towson, McDaniel and Johns Hopkins.

     There were over 300 people at the planned 6-9 p.m. portion of the night, during which Baltimore City granted the event a permit to stay. Hot food, bagged lunches, and drinks were served and speakers were invited to share their stories during open-mic.

     Emily Delany, a first year, said that the "raw stories that were told were very shocking." One speaker, a woman currently experiencing homelessness, told her story and the harsh realities of living on the streets. Delany said that some of the organizers tried to stop her from talking because profanity was used, and it was "really hard to watch her being silenced."

     Camille Wathne, a senior, said it was "shocking to hear people speaking frankly about their current situation, and their willingness to collaborate with students in advancing the campaign to end homelessness."

     Doyle said the planned portion of the event also included breakout sessions. Participants could choose a session, like policy or reentry, to further educate themselves on.

     Last year, the police allowed the participants to spend the night at the Sleep-Out, located at the Inner Harbor instead of outside City Hall. It was expected by many that they were going to permit that again this year. They were surprised when they were forced to leave at 9 p.m.

     Wathne, "assumed that the police would show up and give an obligatory warning." However, the warning was coupled with a threat of physical force if they did not evacuate the area after 9.