Students and Upper Valley residents participated in a road race and informational banquet Sunday to raise money for relief organizations worldwide and to learn about the planet's food shortage crisis as part of the first events of this year's Hunger Awareness Week.
The events are organized by Students Fighting Hunger, a division of the Tucker Foundation. Hunger Awareness Week runs through Saturday.
Yesterday afternoon, individuals and teams registered on the Green for the five-kilometer "Race Against Hunger" to raise funds. The race was the first scheduled event of the week.
"About 150 individuals from the Dartmouth community, students from surrounding high schools and others from the Hanover area participated in the race," said Amy McLean '96, who organized the race. She said registration fees from the race raised more than $730 for local food pantries and international hunger relief organizations.
"This race helps to kick off the week. It would be great to have the amount of participation that was shown in the race to be reflected in the rest of this week's activities," McLean said. "A lot of work went into the race and the week-long period of advertising throughout the Hanover area."
"There was greater participation in the race this year, in part because of the better weather," said Randall Quan, a Tucker Foundation volunteer coordinator who is helping undergraduates to organize the week's events.
Sunday evening, Students Fighting Hunger sponsored a Hunger Banquet designed to simulate global food distribution. The size of participants' bowls represented a certain country's share of the world's food supply.
"The purpose of the banquet is to provide a visual representation of the world's distribution of food," said Michael Popowitz '94, one of the chairs of Students Fighting Hunger. The other chairs of the organization are Meghan Dunleavy '94 and Michelle Serlin '94.
"There is enough food in the world," Popowitz said. "The problem is distribution and food allocation. People must be aware of the nutritional and population aspects of the hunger crisis."
The evening also featured a viewing of the 1993 World Food Day "Teleconference on Biodiversity in the World Food Supply" and a video concerning the problem of chronic persistent hunger.
A discussion with Environmental Studies Professor Andrew Friedland followed the dinner.
Quan said hunger "is a tangible problem. We have the resources to overcome it if we put our minds to it with the perspective of community problem solving."
The first men to finish the race Sunday were men's cross country team members Andy Schopler '94, who came in first with a time of 15:58, Matt Garabedian '96, who came in second in 16:08, and Charlie French '94, who finished a second behind.
But the actual prizes may only be awarded to individuals who are not on a National Collegiate Athletic Association team.
The prize for the men was awarded to Douglas MacGregor, 54, of Lebanon, who finished first in 16:38.
The second and third place finishers were Colin Greenan, 16, of Hanover High School in 17:30, and Kurt Short, 36, of Lyme, N.H. in 17:59.
The first and second place finishers for the women also won the prizes for their division. Mina Pizzini, 26, a student at the Tuck School, finished first in 19:08, and Meredith Martin '96 finished second in 19:10.
The prize awarded to the largest group entering as a single organization went to the men's and women's cross country teams, which entered about 16 runners. The team received a Vermonster Sunday from Ben and Jerry's as their award.
McLean said many fraternities and sororities had a large number of members participating in the race.
She said Epsilon Kappa Theta sorority contributed by monitoring various points in the race.
Today a discussion is scheduled with representatives from The Haven, a local shelter, and the Housing and Homelessness Group of the Tucker Foundation. The discussion, called "Homelessness in the Upper Valley: A Reality Check" will be at 7 p.m. in the Hyphen.
Wednesday, Patrick Giantonio will lead a special slide presentation and discussion titled "Footsteps Into Change: A Humbling African Odyssey."
His presentation will take place at 7 p.m. in Cook Auditorium and will recount a multi-media depiction of Giantonio's four year walk across Africa.
The discussion afterwards will concern the issues of environmental degradation, hunger, poverty, international development and government policy.
A "Fast for a World Harvest" will begin on Wednesday at 6 p.m. and will continue until 6 p.m. on Thursday the 18th.
The fast is co-sponsored nationally by OXFAM America and the Office of the President. There will be a candlelight vigil on the Green at 5 p.m., when Dean James Breeden of the Tucker Foundation will speak.
The fast will end with a "Break the Fast Dinner" at 6:30 p.m. at Food Court in Thayer Dining Hall.
This weekend, there will be a panel discussion titled "Malnutrition and Hunger in the Upper Valley: A Discussion of Clinical and Physical Effects" at 4:30 p.m. on Friday in 105 Dartmouth Hall.
On Saturday, Nov. 20, individuals are encouraged to participate and volunteer in the all-day canned food drive sponsored at the Hanover Co-op and Grand Union parking lots.
The week's events will end with a Sing-Along Benefit Concert featuring the Rock-a-pellas, the Decibelles and the Aires at 5 p.m. at the Top of the Hop. Donations of three cans of food are requested for admission.