This past Saturday afternoon the Hollywood Church hosted a Hunger Banquet, in partnership with the ONE Campaign/LA, Bread for the World, CARE, and Heifer International. I hope you'll click on each of these links and explore these amazing organizations who each have as their express goal nothing short of eradicating extreme poverty in the world.
The program consisted of an amazing script, which you can download and read for yourself by clicking here, a meal in which 15% of the group, chosen at random, ate a full 3 course meal, 25% ate rice and beans and the vast majority (60%) at only rice and water. After the meal people share some remarkable reflections on how the experience impacted them. Following the meal we heard from a man named Brett Boeckmann who share his experiences working in the poorest country in the world, Sierra Leone.
It was so wonderful to see so many people wearing (RED) products as well (Nice shirt, Lauren!).
A huge "THANK YOU" to my amazing members who volunteered and helped out in so many ways and to all of you who just showed up and were willing to learn about this important issue! For more pictures of the event, click here.
Ryan,
Thanks for letting us know about these kind of events. I'm glad you were able to host. Good stuff.
What kind of people came and how did you become a host site? Did the Adventists support? Just wanting some more details if you're willing to share.
Posted by: Trevan Osborn | October 24, 2006 at 02:39 PM
Ryan,
It sounds like a wonderful event. I would love to have an event like that here in Indianapolis.
Keep up the good work!!!
Posted by: Courtney Krudy | October 25, 2006 at 06:28 AM
You know, Courtney, you could. It looks, from your email address, like you're either a student or staff member at a school and schools are some of the best places for events like this. Did you think of starting a ONE Campaign chapter there? You could check out www.ONE.org.
Trevan, we became the host site because I've been invovled in the ONE Campaign in Los Angeles since it's early days. The ONE meetings have been held in my church before because it's a central location and because it's, well...Hollywood. The attendance was probably half membes of my church and half others from the community who mainly knew about it through their connections to the ONE Campaign. In order for things like this to work out the local church has to be consistently involved.
Posted by: Ryan Bell | October 25, 2006 at 07:23 AM
Hollywood SDA, aka the best church in LA, is an integral part of the surrounding community. I encourage those of you nearby to visit!
Posted by: Johnny | October 26, 2006 at 03:13 PM
Hi Ryan - Glad to see that Hollywood SDA is actively involved in the hunger issue. Sometimes we forget that God works on the economics of enough, not the economics of scarcity. When we recognize that He is generous to us beyond measure, we cannot help but extend that generosity to everybody.
Keep letting us know what's going on. We'll be sure to encourage more churches and individuals to get involved.
Posted by: Michael Peabody | October 27, 2006 at 12:56 PM