Some Eastern students are starving to teach others about the plight of the world’s hungry. The Haiti Connection will host its annual Hunger Banquet at 6 p.m. today in the Newman Catholic Center.

The goal is to create a paradigm shift among the students, said Joe Astrouski, a senior journalism major, helping them realize people are suffering and dying from hunger.

Everyone who attends the free banquet will be given a passport along with a fictional story about someone from that country.

Participants will then be given a certain sum of money according to what country is on the passport to then buy their dinner with the money.

A passport from the Dominican Republic, for example, will get less money than one from the United States.

This will allow some to buy whatever food they want while others may only get a bowl of rice.

Donations are accepted with 80 percent of the proceeds going toward helping the people of Haiti, while the other 20 percent will go to Charleston Food Pantry. The Haiti Connection has been working for 20 years with many projects going on.

The group wants to raise awareness to the almost 16,000 children who die from malnutrition, according to www.bread.org.

Astrouski said that even if it is for an hour, he wants people to identify with the hunger struggle on a personal basis.

Student volunteers run the banquet, including Chelsea Hand, a senior political science major, and Matt Slaughter, a junior English major.

Hand heard about the group during her freshman and sophomore years and started to go to the meetings. She said the Haiti Connection does good work and helps raise awareness for a great cause.

Hand is set to go to Haiti with the group to help those in need. She said people struggle with the basics such as clean water, which improves health and promotes the well being of children.

“This is a good idea to teach the people of the richest nation how the people of the poorest nations live,” Slaughter said.

James Roedl can be reached at 581-7942 or DENnewsdesk@gmail.com.