Send Hunger Packing to Host `Hunger Banquet’ Sept. 20

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Send Hunger Packing distributes backpacks to Princeton children who live in food-insecure households so they don’t go hungry over the weekend and can focus better on learning.

Send Hunger Packing, the Princeton charity that provides elementary school children in Princeton who may be food-insecure with food for the weekend, is hosting a hunger banquet this fall to raise awareness about hunger in Princeton and to raise funds for the two-year old program.

Almost 420 Princeton children, 12 percent of the school population, are food insecure. Those who qualify for free or subsidized school lunches are fed during the week, but there is no help for them on the weekends.

Send Hunger Packing, in partnership with Mercer Street Friends, provides backpacks containing food to children in grades K-5 and children at the Princeton Nursery School on Fridays to ensure that they have enough to eat over the weekend and can better focus on learning.

The hunger banquet will be held at 1 p.m. on Sunday, Sept. 20, on Hinds Plaza. The cost is $50 per person.

Modeled after the Oxfam America Hunger Banquet, which began in 1974, seating at the Princeton event will be determined by the luck of the draw. Just as in real life, some attendees will enjoy relative prosperity in terms of what they eat, while others will not. The banquet simulates the imbalanced distribution of food in the world. Participants represent various economic statuses and receive a meal that corresponds to a particular economic status. The banquet is a great educational activity for families.

For more information, to purchase tickets, or to become a sponsor, visit the Send hunger Packing website.