It’s been a few years, but a group of Jasper high school students are starving themselves again. For 24 hours, and for several worthy causes.

The Action Club is organizing a Starveathon, where students are deprived of their typical diet for one day in order to highlight the reality of poverty and hunger for many around the world. Although there are only 12 members in the group, teacher supervisor Sandy Cox is hoping that up to 40 students will end up participating.

Participating students are already looking for pledges from the community. 

“We’re looking for each kid to raise a minimum of $20 in pledges and we’d like to have the kids raise about $2,000 total,” Cox said. The money will be divided between Engineers Without Borders, the Canadian International Development Agency, Canada World Youth and Change for Children. All four groups are sending a representative to speak to participants about the programs they will be supporting.

The small group of students planning the Starveathon say that there will be more to it than simply turning down food all day long. Participants might be fed one bowl of plain white rice, something that reflects the nutritional reality for many people who are fed through international food assistance.

“It kind of does make you more hungry, and that’s all that many people have,” said Grade 9 student Keslin Park. Getting a drink of water may prove no easy task either. The organizers may demand that any student taking a drink would have to do several laps around  the school before and after.

“That’s to signify the fact that people have to go to the well and back again in many places, and even then, the water might not be clean,” said Cassi Allin, also in Grade 9.

The Action Club has been going strong for at least 15 years, according to Cox, and while the Starveathon might be their biggest event, they have been busy throughout the year, attending youth conferences and educating their peers on “global issues”.

The idea to resurrect the Starveathon, which had been an annual event at the high school until four years ago, came from the students themselves, Cox said.

“They really wanted to do something to educate the kids on these issues,” Cox said. 

While the club members might be fairly well informed, some believe they should be learning more about worldwide concerns like poverty and human development.

“We don’t learn enough about it at all,” said ninth-grader Eman Ismaeil. “It’s sort of like our job to educate the rest of the school about it.”