Hunger strikes have been popular methods of passive resistance to bring attention to salient and controversial issues. Gandhi, Bobby Sands of the Irish Republican Army and Cesar Chavez are examples of activists who used hunger as a way to publicize their suffering and to express their dedication to political movements. Sands even died from his strike.

At a local level, students are using hunger as a means to bring awareness to the issue of world hunger. The Center for Student Leadership, Ethics and Public Service organized the 30 Hour Famine, an event to raise awareness about hunger related issues.

From 10 a.m. Friday to 4 p.m. Saturday, over 50 students and faculty abstained from eating to publicize their main point—despite the multitude resources at man’s disposal, hunger remains a pertinent yet forgotten issue.

Chris Adkins, a junior in mechanical engineering and director of the Hunger and Homelessness Issues Committee with CSLEPS, said, “the thing is to get a bunch of students to commit to the idea that we’re going to fast for 30 hours because we are upset that this issue exists.”

Adkins, along with fellow students from the Hunger and Homelessness Committee, a branch of the student-run Service Leadership Team, were busy organizing the event since the beginning of the school year.

“[We spent] essentially all of our time trying to get the event’s groundwork laid down,” Adkins said.

Despite the abundant availability of food on campus, students made the effort to raise consciousness and activism.

According to the World Food Program, an offshoot of the United Nations, a billion people experience malnutrition today — that is nearly 15 percent of the world’s population. More than 1,200 people die due to malnourishment annually, which equates to one person every six seconds.

The U.S. is no exception. Within this land of opportunity, the number of Americans on food stamps exceeds 40 million, according to the Federal Department of Agriculture. Numbers aside, the 30 Hour Famine worked to do more than just raise awareness of the hunger issue.

“First and foremost, I want to mention that the problem with hunger is not a lack of food, but rather the obstruction of various policies,” Mike Giancola, the director of CSLEPS, said.

Adkins said there is essentially enough food to feed everyone in the world four pounds of food a day.

“Unless you are Michael Phelps, you don’t eat half of that,” Adkins said. “I can’t speak for everyone here with the event, but I draw the line when in our country there are people dying every day because of hunger.”

The event organizers took to the Brickyard to publicize a petition to try to raise awareness and to pressure politicians to change policy in the U.S. that perpetuate and reinforce hunger.

“I am participating and contributing to the organization of event and I noticed that the petition affects millions of people on food stamps,” said Hema Patel, a sophomore in political science and a member of the Service Leadership Team.

Congress is currently debating whether to cut food stamps by about 20 cents apiece, from the current value of 78 cents, Patel said.

“On average, this would be a $50 decrease for families on food stamps,” Patel said.

Participants managed to keep their minds off of their personal hunger and the heaviness of the issue through activities CSLEPS offered. Friday night the Service Leadership Team organized various activities, including a photo scavenger hunt, entertainment by the Fusion dance team and local stand-up comics.

“Although the turnout to these events was lower than we expected, I think that we can evaluate this to make it more interactive next year,” Adkins said.

Nevertheless, the hunger did take a small toll on the students participating in the event. Alexis Gomez, a sophomore in animal science, said food was on her mind.

“I’m doing this with a friend and we’ve been sitting around a lot think about our stomachs,” Gomez said. “I’ve just been feeling a little sleepy.”

The fasters did have a light at the end of the tunnel. Saturday at 4 p.m., participants broke the fast after packing 400 meals for the Shepherd’s Table Soup Kitchen.

However, this fast was no festive celebration like Eid at the end of Ramadan. The fasters all shared a soup kitchen meal, eating one peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a fruit cup to mark the end of the 30 Hour Famine. The meal signified that even after a long period without food, this may be the most a starving person may manage to eat.

“I knew that I would be hungry,” Emily Robertson, a sophomore in biochemistry, said. “The nice thing is that I know I will have food at the end, but people in hunger don’t have that certainty of food in their future.”

After breaking the fast, Giancola and Bob Patterson, a specialist in crop science, discussed the issue of hunger. Patterson recounted personal experiences while studying crops and hunger abroad and both men stressed the importance of a change in policy.

“We all grow up knowing what hunger is,” Giancola said. “In an ideal world, I would love to see my kids not understand what hunger is, because this problem should not exist. Unfortunately, they do. The fact that we allow a tremendous amount of people to pass through this is shameful.”

Nevertheless, Giancola’s idealism is tied to reality.

“I don’t want to undermine the importance of food drives, but this issue won’t be solved without putting pressure on politicians — domestic and international,” Giancola said. 

The 30 Hour Famine is not the last opportunity for students to get involved in hunger awareness programs. CSLEPS and Student Government will host activities and programs in the Brickyard November 14-20 to compliment Global Hunger Week.

The Service Leadership Team also plans to visit the Fighting World Hunger Conference in February to encourage 120 other universities to host a similar event to that of the 30 Hour Famine.

Additionally, students can apply for the Bill Clinton Hunger Leadership Award, which CSLEPS started two years ago. Applicants submit a short Youtube video that exposes and demonstrates the gravity of global hunger. The competition has expanded from the N.C. State campus, and students from across the United States and Canada can enter before the November 16 deadline.