Hungry for a Change
Human Services Students Experience Food Disparity
Imagine a dinner party without any food. That's what GW student Natalie Kaplan helped organize.
Kaplan, working toward a B.A. in human services, spends 40 hours each semester devoting time to “service learning.” That means she volunteers in the community on issue she believes are important.
Through the Hunger Banquet – an intentional oxymoron – Kaplan hoped to raise awareness about hunger. The guests she invited arrived at the banquet anticipating a sit-down dinner followed by a discussion on the topic. Instead, they found themselves living out the disparities of global subsistence.
Some dinner guests were lucky. They were seated at tables where four-course meals were served. But others were directed to spots on the floor and given only handfuls of rice or beans.
The banquet was designed to give students an emotional connection to global inequities, to help them empathize with those for whom hunger is a daily concern. Even before a word was spoken, banquet goers already had a new and deeper understanding of food -- and who has it and who doesn't.
Empathy-provoking experiences like the Hunger Banquet support the philosophy of GW's Human Services Program and other University’s experiential opportunities. Some of these initiatives unfold in classrooms, others outside them, often accompanied by hands-on interaction with academic, government and service agencies in the Washington, D.C. area.
The goal of the service learning is to give GW students the knowledge and skills they need to make a difference once they move into the public and private sectors.
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