I am in Mrs. Basso’s Grade 6 class. Our class went to the ‘WE’ Day event in Vancouver in the fall which inspired me to organize a fast as I am very passionate about people in poverty.

Oliver Elementary School is hosting a 24- hour fast for the grades 6’s and 7’s starting Wednesday, February 27th with a finish the next day. All the participating students must pledge a minimum of $25 with all proceeds going to the Oliver Food Bank.

A 24- hour fast is when you must stop eating for 24 hours so that you can get a better understanding of what it feels like to experience hunger because of poverty. During this event, participants can drink water or juice, but even people in poverty don’t get either of these.

After our 24-hour fast all participating students will have a pancake “breakfast” in the gymnasium.

Did you know that every 3.6 seconds someone in the world dies of hunger, and that 75% of them are children? About 1.2 billion people live on only $1.00 a day. In the world 1 in 7 people are hungry, and one third of food is wasted.

I organized this fast with the help of my teacher Mrs. Basso, and the help of our school’s principle Mr. McAllister. They were both very helpful in the process of organizing this event. Many students have told me that they would like to participate and that they are also very passionate about people in poverty. My goal is to encourage 20 people to participate to raise awareness about world hunger, and I hope is to make this an annual event.

Ava Grice
Grade 6 student
Oliver Elementary School