Summer 2006, Volume 11 Number 3

Table of Contents

When my daughter Nina was accepted into the 8^th grade class at The Bullis School in Potomac, MD I was ecstatic.  Bullis is an independent school situated on a beautiful piece of property with small classes and plentiful resources.   Its campus is akin to a small college.  What a terrific opportunity for her, I thought. 

There was some anxiety as well with Nina’s acceptance: would she somehow miss out on learning empathy towards those less fortunate by being in such a privileged environment that lacked the socio-economic diversity of her public school years?  It was out of this concern that I joined Bullis’ Diversity Committee and the idea of doing a Hunger Awareness luncheon was born.  Years ago I had participated in such a lunch on Capital Hill sponsored by then Representative Tony Hall, D, Ohio, and found the whole thing to be educational and cool.  The Diversity Committee thought it was a wonderful idea and said, “Go for it!”  Thanks to Larry Levine and Kids Can Make a Difference, I was able to get all the tools and materials necessary to make a proposal to the school.

I quickly went into action thinking this was a pretty simple idea: kids would enter the lunchroom on the designated day and pick one of three color-coded tickets which would dictate what they would eat for lunch that day.  Roughly 15% of the tickets would be exchanged for a first-world diet, another 65% would mirror the most common diet of a basic starch with some protein (rice and beans) and the remaining 20% would represent the diet of the world’s chronically poor (a bowl of rice).  People began to raise concerns: some people will not want their kids to be hungry (a concern I had little empathy for), the kids playing after-school sports will find practice extra difficult that day, kids will fight over the coveted first world tickets (which of course is a wonderful teaching moment about how the real world in fact works), and so maybe participation should be voluntary, etc. 

The Bullis School is run by a socially-conscious Headmaster, Tom Farquar, and supported by wonderful teachers who are committed to ensuring Bullis students do in fact learn about the world around them, its many challenges and their role as responsible actors who have a moral obligation to engage such pressing issues as hunger.  Fortunately, I soon found two school “insiders” willing to help.  Jennifer Galambos (middle school principal), and Amy Jones (lower school principal), provided the necessary support and credibility to make it all happen. Jennifer came up with the good idea to have the first year be a single meal of rice/beans for everyone to reduce some of the logistical complications. 

In the end, our Hunger Awareness Day turned into a week’s worth of activities.  It was kicked-off by a speaker from World Hunger Year (WHY) and one from a local food bank who addressed the entire school at its weekly Monday assembly.  The lower school conducted a food drive all week.  Wednesday was the actual rice/beans lunch and the school donated $500 in estimated savings to hunger causes.  The kids definitely talked (and some complained of being hungry!).  Everyone involved was happy with our first year’s results and there seems to be little question that we’re off and running and an annual event has been born.  It took one and one-half years from conception to event.

The hunger awareness luncheon was a small endeavor.  I wondered, what is this really accomplishing?  But when I think of different things that hit me and stuck as a child, they’re often little nuggets that occurred incidentally and randomly.  What if one student who participated decided to get involved (professionally) in solving hunger?  More likely, what if three students decided to volunteer at soup kitchens periodically?  What if a handful of students choose hunger as place to contribute some of their charitable funds when they are older?  And what if a few students simply look at a hungry, homeless man or woman, with a little more empathy the next time they pass one? 

                Jim Roumell is the proud father of Nina and Jordan.  He may be contacted at jroumell@roumellasset.com.  

© Copyright 1999, Kids Can Make A Difference