The Hunger Banquet was one of the many activities of the university’s Center for Service and Leadership’s Hunger and Homelessness Action Week. This particular banquet was organized to help students and guests “visualize the unequal distribution of food throughout the world.” The program’s participants stressed the importance of education, advocacy and outreach as elements of change. As part of the program, the students are encouraged to become involved in community-based initiatives, that will empower and improve the lives of the less fortunate.

Other organizations represented at the banquet included Food for Others, the Arlington Food Assistance Center and the Capitol Area Community Food Bank. These organizations deal mainly with grassroots activities to alleviate hunger within the United States and in the Washington, DC metro area.

The CIDI presented a different perspective when addressing grassroots activities related to international disaster relief. Attendees were interested to learn that while donations of canned foods and clothing drives, while useful for addressing local needs, can be highly inappropriate and problematic when pursued for relief activities overseas.

The CIDI’s Communication Director, Richard Muffley, explained the many problems caused by unsolicited donations of commodities reaching disaster sites—and the negative impact that these donations can have upon the local population and the local economy. He also described the importance of calculating the costs involved in transporting, warehousing and distributing aid –and how those funds might be better spent by donating it to a relief agency Mr. Muffley also explained that the many differences in cultural, environmental, dietary and religious requirements of disaster victims must be considered before undertaking any collection activities in the United States. In conclusion, Mr. Muffley stressed that the most effective and efficient form of assistance for victims of disasters around the world is to support, through cash donations, the work of professional relief agencies that have personnel and transportation mechanisms in place in the affected country—and understand the specific needs of the victims.

CIDI staff met with students and professors and stressed the importance of appropriate donations for international disaster relief.