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Students turn hunger fight into fast work
Dallas ISD: While going without for 30 hours, they fill bus with food

12:00 AM CDT on Friday, September 15, 2006
By JON NIELSEN / The Dallas Morning News

The students emptied their bellies and filled their brains.

Their lesson was to go hungry for 30 hours – and collect enough food to fill a school bus.

It was part of Melissa Russell's peer assistance leadership project last spring at Bryan Adams High School in Dallas. The activity forced students to realize that hunger isn't just an issue in Third World countries: Finding a healthy meal is an everyday struggle for some students.

Mrs. Russell said that for 8 percent of students in the Dallas Independent School District, the only meal they receive is through the district's free and reduced lunch program.

"It was a really cool activity, and the school really united on it," Mrs. Russell said. "A lot of the kids who come to school hungry each day, they really got involved in this activity, because they know what it feels like to feel hungry and they don't wish that upon anybody."

The students filled a school bus – not one of the short ones, either – with nonperishable food items, which they donated to the North Texas Food Bank.

The "Fill the Bus" campaign amassed 8,566 pounds, or enough to provide 6,700 meals.

"Hunger is a very big problem in our community, and these kids did something to make a difference," said Jan Pruitt, the North Texas Food Bank's chief executive. "These are tomorrow's leaders. When there are problems in their community, they are the solution."

More than 103 students at the school were part of the solution, but this school year, the participation is expected to grow when Mrs. Russell opens the drive to the entire student body.

Last year's participants ate a pre-fast supper, then were allowed only juice and water for the next 30 hours. During the fast, which covered two school days, students solicited others to donate food.

When the fasting period was up, the students ate a meal, then discussed the effects of hunger.

"They talked about what it was like to experience what hunger pains actually felt like," Mrs. Russell said. "When you don't eat, you get dizzy, lightheaded and your muscles twitch. A lot of kids in that short time period without food actually experienced that."

Mrs. Russell and Mrs. Pruitt agreed that the real-life learning experience goes beyond the textbooks.

"I think this will stay with them a lot longer than homework assignments," Mrs. Pruitt said. "It's one thing to do a food drive, but it's another thing to experience hunger."

E-mail elangton@dallasnews.com
Online at the Dallas Morning News