River Valley Youth Tighten Their Belts

As I post this, local teens are 19 hours into their fast, with eleven more to go. The 30 Hour Famine has become an annual ritual for Friends on a Mission, a youth group based out of the United Baptist Church in West Peru. They typically go from lunchtime on a Friday to suppertime on Saturday with nothing to eat and only water and clear juices to drink. They fill the hours with community service, camaraderie, and quiet reflection.

The event is meant to sharpen awareness of world hunger, and nothing does that better than a gnawing emptiness in one's own belly. While empathy is a good first step, the Famine also includes a call to action. Again this year, FOAM is raising hundreds of dollars for a donation to World Vision, a faith-based organization addressing issues of hunger and poverty worldwide.

The money will go a long way. Malnutrition and dehydration, largely preventable, lead to much death and disease among infants and young children in developing countries: one in ten will die before age 5. A small fraction of what super-sized Americans now spend on their own health care (over $2 trillion annually) would do wonders overseas. Watch the video:
Welcome to 30 Hour Famine