On April 14, forty-one BSN Community Nursing students participated in a hunger banquet to increase awareness of the global hunger faced by many individuals in our country and worldwide. It is estimated that more than 795 million people in the world are undernourished. Oxfam America, an agency that provides foods to these individuals, developed the hunger banquet exercise as a means to bring to light the plight faced by these individuals.

For this experience, students are assigned an income level of low, moderate, and high to mimic the world’s economic distribution. Based on this random assignment, the students are provided a meal based on their designation. Students who were deemed low income retrieved their water from a bowl and were given yellow rice in a bowl. Middle income students were given a bottle of water and a bowl of rice and beans. The high income students were seated at a table and received rice, beans, chicken, bread, dessert, and water in a glass. This exercise lead to a lively discussion among our students about world hunger and ways that we can make a difference in our own communities as future nursing leaders.