Fasting Dallas-Fort Worth teens to help fight hunger, poverty

from the Dallas Morning News

By RACHEL SLADE / The Dallas Morning News
rslade@dallasnews.com

More than 2,100 teens from Dallas-Fort Worth are expected to join kids nationwide in a 30-hour fast this weekend to support World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization working to end hunger and poverty.

The North Texas groups, drawn mostly from churches, schools and civic organizations, hope to raise $140,000 through pledge donations for World Vision's national goal of $12.5 million.

Through "30 Hour Famine," the teens will learn what it's like to be one of the billions who lack food every day.

"We show information to the students so they understand the broader picture," said Ron DuPree, youth ministry director at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Denton. "It's not just people being lazy on the other side of the world who can't feed themselves. There are a lot of political, cultural and demographic issues going on that are beyond our scope of understanding."

The teens from St. Paul will begin fasting after lunch today and consume only liquids until they break their fast together Saturday evening. In between, they will participate in a day of cleanup on the church grounds and an hourlong prayer walk through Denton's historic square. They hope to raise $720, which would allow them to sponsor two children for a year.

While most groups rely on pledges to bring in money, 10 teens at St. Barnabas United Methodist Church in Arlington held a telethon Monday that raised more than $1,000.

"The telephone was a good way for them to be with their friends and be comfortable calling someone to ask for a donation," said John Nader, St. Barnabas' director of youth ministries. "We hope to raise $360 per youth because that will feed a child for a year."

The St. Barnabas service project will involve traveling to the Union Gospel Mission in Fort Worth to volunteer in the food pantry, sort clothing and toys in the warehouse, and feed shelter residents and the homeless before breaking their own fast.

"It's not just the fasting," Mr. Nader said. "It's everything about that weekend that helps the kids come to the realization of how they can be effective in ending world hunger."