Gannon University’s annual 30-Hour Fast took place over the weekend in order to raise awareness about world hunger.
The fasting itself started at noon Friday and continued until 6 p.m. the next day on Saturday. The participants who fasted joined together for the first time as a group at 4 p.m. and stayed at the A.J. Palumbo Academic Center on Friday night. Throughout the event, participants went to various places to do service for the community.
About 50 students and staff members participated in the fasting event according to Beth Gaertner, who served as the student leader in charge of public relations for the event for the second straight year. Gaertner said she learned that the fast has a primary focus on awareness.
“I learned that the fast is not about suddenly fixing the world’s problems, rather to make more people aware of the problems that are close to campus as Perry Square,” the junior communications arts major said.
Gaertner also said the event was able to raise $500, which supports Catholic relief services.
Andrea Miller, a LECOM 2+3 accelerated pharmacy major, participated in this year’s event for the second straight year.
Miller said the purpose of the event is to raise awareness about hunger by being in solidarity with those who are hungry by doing service.
“We also get sponsorships to raise money for the hungry,” she said.
Miller said chose to do the event because she felt like most people are not aware of hunger in the United States.
“When you talk about feeding the hunger, many people think about starving children in Africa or in third world countries,” she said. “I wanted to do the event because we get to experience hunger first hand and see how it affects the person both on a physical and mental level.”
There were fewer participants this year than there were last year, Miller said. The service activity setup was also different this year.
“This year, there were two different service opportunities: ANNA shelter and TREC & Sunrise Assisted Living and Second Harvest Food Bank,” she said.
“Last year, everyone went to A.N.N.A. and TREC, so it was really neat to get to have different places to volunteer.”
Miller said the event focused more on the issue of clean water in this year’s fasting.
“We even had a speaker come in and talk about clean water in Africa and played water issues ‘Jeopardy’,” she said.
Although 30 hours may seem like a long time to go without food for most people, Miller said the fasting part was not difficult for her.
“I only realized that I was hungry after three hours of the first meal I skipped and during our breaks from service,” she said. “Keeping busy really keeps your mind off of your stomach, which is why I don’t feel like it is that hard.”
