Members of Richwood United Methodist Church’s (UMC) youth group will begin a voluntary, 30-hour fast at the church’s Fellowship Hall at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 21, and continue it into the following day.
The effort – the group calls it a famine – is the culmination of a month-long fundraiser the youths conduct each year to raise funds for World Vision, an organization that benefits children living in poverty. About a dozen kids in middle and high school will participate, according to church administrator Mildred Herman, and will begin by discussing the topic of childhood hunger, its causes and effects.
“This is the 24th year we will be doing the 30-hour famine,” Herman explained. “We use the materials from World Vision, which usually include a story about a child in a poor country. He or she has very little access to food, clean water, education or health care.
“We discuss how that would impact us, and how fortunate we are to be born in this country,” she added. “It’s hard to believe that only $40 can help feed and care for a child for a month.”
After the discussion session is over, youth group members will go to a bowling alley, then disperse for the evening. They will meet again at the hall the following morning, then shop for groceries, donating their purchases to a local pantry where they will also volunteer.
The group will return to the church hall for games, a movie and a scavenger hunt before reuniting with families for dinner. The church hopes for the effort to raise $4,000 for World Vision; donations can be made on the World Vision website.
“We have a giant board at church with a poster hidden by a huge white puzzle,” Herman said. “For every $40 we collect, we’ll take one piece off the puzzle, eventually revealing the whole poster underneath, we hope. It’s a great way to track our progress toward our goal.”
