BANGOR, Maine — Eastern Maine Community College hosted its first Hunger Awareness Dinner on Wednesday in Rangeley Hall. It started at 6 p.m. and went through 8 p.m.
All proceeds from the event will support the school's food pantry on campus for its student community. Some of the proceeds will also be donated to the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter food pantry.
There is no fee for guests attending the dinner. Instead, people are asked to donate what they would normally spend on a dinner at home or while eating out.
Upon arrival, each guest will be randomly assigned a socioeconomic group which will determine the meal they receive. The percentage of people in each group (high, medium, and low socioeconomic status) mirrors the same percentage of people in that group throughout the state of Maine.
Christiane Oliveri, associate dean of student success at EMCC, explained why they decided to structure the meal this way.
"The purpose is really to draw attention to the problem, and I think make it a little more personal. Because if you're actually experiencing having a typical meal that someone in that income group would have, say you're a middle-income person who never experienced poverty, it kind of gets you used to feeling what that's like," Oliveri said.
The dinner also included a discussion about what Mainers can do to help their neighbors experiencing food insecurity.