Beginning Friday, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship and Campus Crusade are sponsoring a 30-hour famine to raise awareness and money for needy children all over the world. Marquette students will be part of the more than 1 million people worldwide who will participate.

World Vision, an international Christian relief organization, has sponsored the fast annually since 1992, and Marquette has participated in the past.

The goal of the 30-hour famine is to raise awareness for children around the world who suffer from hunger and poverty, said Kathryn Bilhorn, a School of Education junior and member of InterVarsity.

The fast will begin Friday at noon and will continue until 6 p.m. Saturday. During the famine, students will have the opportunity to get involved in service projects in the Milwaukee area, group activities and raise money for the World Vision Organization.

Students who take part in the famine Friday from 8 p.m. to midnight are invited to a juice party in the Straz Tower multipurpose room, where there will be games and music, Bilhorn said. The activity is designed as a bonding experience between the students participating, as well as to take attention away from the fasting.

Megan Lavery, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, said she will participate in the fast because she wants to help the global and local communities through service.

"We need to stand up for the oppressed, and take care of the hungry," Lavery said.

There will be two service opportunities Saturday for participants. In the morning students will travel to the Lincoln Park neighborhood to clean up basements damaged by flooding. In the afternoon the students will work at a children's theater, cleaning out dressing rooms, making costumes and handing out tickets to a play to community members, Bilhorn said.

Participants will meet at Applebee's at 6 p.m. Saturday to break the fast.

Dave Streier, a sophomore in the College of Arts & Sciences, plans to participate.

"I've never taken the opportunity to do something like this, and now I would like to be able to take the opportunity to fight against hunger," he said.

Students can collect money from friends or family to donate the proceeds to World Vision, which can be turned in at any of the 30-hour famine activities.

Students do not have to take part in all of the activities, Bilhorn said. They can just fast, do the activities or collect donations. However, Bilhorn urged students to participate in the famine to get a glimpse of what impoverished children around the globe are suffering.

Those interested in participating in the community service projects can RSVP to Kathryn Bilhorn at [email protected].

This article appeared in The Marquette Tribune on Mar. 3 2005.