I got to make my first trip into the state of Indiana last week.  And as I get a chance to go all over the country I realize that many parts of our country are much the same.  Everywhere the Campus Kitchens Project goes there are always active students looking to make a difference in the community.

Last week in Bloomington things were par for the course, which for CKP students is always amazing.  A great event was planned for a group of about 50 students, teachers and friends to hear about CKP and the kind of difference it could make on the community in Bloomington.  The event was held in a beautiful room, The Tudor Room, the food was excellent and the discussion was great.

I’m sure many of you know what a hunger banquet is, but for those who have never been to one, they are designed to create a representation of hunger across the world.  Some people get a full meal and others do not.  One of the coolest parts of this banquet was the open mindedness of the students at the banquet.  The middle class who only received a large plate of vegetables for the table along with rice, opted to share their vegetables with the lower class, who had only received rice.  I thought it was great to see a truly perfect representation of what CKP does going on at the banquet.

The banquet then broke into a discussion of what hunger truly is.  Why we do we call food insecurity?  Does it make us feel better knowing people are food insecure instead of hungry?  Why don’t we call it shelter insecure instead of homeless?  I challenged the students to google the word “hunger.”  And I issue the same to you.  Now click over to images.  It’s not a pretty sight, but it’s very real.  Hopefully we provoked some thoughts about hunger and how we deal with it at the banquet and hopefully it leads to a meaningful impact on those who participated.

I just wanted to give a big shout out to wrap up this post.  The Exec Board that has been diligently working on getting the project started at IU has done a great job:  Kelly Childs, Michael Peck, Anthony Bowen, Stephen Mendenhall, and Christopher Tan.  They’ve worked really hard and are close to getting a Campus Kitchen started.  I can’t wait to see it happen this summer!

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