Dinners ranged from a bowl of rice to a three course meal for people at Union College's Hunger Banquet. The event opened the eyes of many that attended.

As guests entered the Hunger Banquet, a card told their fictional life story as a person with low income, middle income, or high income.

Debbie D'Anna, Dean of Students says, "When you look around the room, you can see the different seating, a lot more people are sitting on the floor than in the chairs or at the tables with the nice food."

D'Anna says these proportions reflect the world population. And though many think hunger is only a problem outside the united states, 37 million Americans live in poverty.

"We forget sometimes that it's a problem for us as well," says D'Anna.

Eden Ellison is a student volunteer who organized the event and says, "All across the world, in any country you're going to look at, there's severe hunger and homelessness. Families in knox county go hungry every day."

As students and faculty sampled their rice, or fine dining, they found surprising differences between classes.

"People here at the rich person's table said they felt ashamed, and guilty, they said they were guilty because there were poor people just over there that they had left behind," says Stephen O'Donoghue, a volunteer and student at Union College.

"It's important for us to get out there and see the world issues so that whenever we graduate, and we're not on union college's campus any longer. We'll actually know the issues and be concerned with people other than ourselves," says Ellison.

The banquet honored National Hunger and Homeless awareness week.

D'Anna says the banquet should inspire students and other faculty members to give back through the holidays.

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