Every year, youth from around the world participate in World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine to raise awareness and funds for world hunger. According to the World Vision website, 842 million people are hungry. That’s one in eight people worldwide.

High school students participate in the famine annually at Zion Lutheran Church in Middletown. Once a year at the end of February, students come together.

Their journey takes off months before the date of the famine when they start to raise funds. Participants set goals for themselves and try to achieve them by the deadline.

Sophomore Tyler Harrison explains that “the money that we raise goes to children in Africa and Mexico who don’t have enough food.”

For those who do not fully understand what a famine is, Harrison explains it all. He says that “the famine is where our church gets a group of youth together and don’t eat for 30 hours to simulate what it feels like to be hungry in a third world country.”

When a student explains that they won’t be eating for the next 30 hours, their peers, family, and teachers all think that they must be insane. However, students participate in many activities to keep their mind off their empty stomachs.

Although senior Taylor Green enjoys “watching movies and playing board games,” it is not all fun and games. At the 30 Hour Famine, students also make “blankets for the Frederick Homeless Shelter and make school kits for kids in Africa.”

Laura Myers, senior, says that at first she was “a little nervous because if someone tells you that you can’t eat for 30 hours, at first you’re like, ‘I don’t know if I can do that.’”

As the night drags on, the true hunger sets in. “Around ten o’clock I think that I got a little hungry and I didn’t know if I was going to make it,” explains Myers.

Soon enough, Myers’ opinion about fasting changed. She clarifies that “you’re just having so much fun playing around with the people there and playing games, doing activities, and learning about the people over in the countries that you’re helping,” that the hunger subsides.

As bad as fasting sounds, the average healthy person is perfectly capable of fasting for 30 hours. Senior Noah Zearfoss says that “It’s not that bad in the beginning because they make this big breakfast and you can eat that, so you’re fine for the first eight or nine hours,”

The pancake breakfast feast in the morning before the famine is a great way to start off the day. Students and adults participating in the famine get to meet and bond with each other.

Freshman Jessica Yeager has only done the famine once. She says that she did the famine because “it helps people in need and it is for a really good cause.”

“I think that it’s a really good experience and I want to do it when I possibly can,” says Myers.

This year, Zion Lutheran Church raised over $2,000 to be sent overseas. Every donation, from $1 to $100 helped the group reach its goal.

The money raised will help children become nourished and strong. With every group participating in World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine across the world, the 842 million who are hungry slowly get fed.