Hunger luncheon banquet planned at URI Providence on April 26
Closing Event for Hunger Awareness Month at URI,
open to public

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- April 21, 2000 -- The April Hunger Awareness Month will culminate in its grand finale ­ a hunger banquet at the University of Rhode Island Alan Shawn Feinstein College of Continuing Education, Paff Auditorium, on April 26 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Admission to the banquet is $2 and the public is invited to attend. All participants are requested to bring a canned good to contribute to the Rhode Island Food Bank.

Students from the Met School, located within the same building as URI's Feinstein College of Continuing Education, will conduct the hunger banquet as co-collaborators of this hunger awareness campaign. The banquet will be modeled after the Oxfam America Hunger Banquet and adds a new dimension to the banquet style by incorporating stories and facts relating to hunger in Rhode Island and the United States into the lunch program.

Luncheon guests will be randomly selected to receive one of the three types/classes of meals ranging from an elite luncheon to a meal consisting of a bowl of rice. Meals for the privileged guests are served on fine china by waiters and waitresses, while the less fortunate will eat on the floor. Meals will be donated by Davio's at the Biltmore and Coffee Plus.

Throughout the month of April, the URI Feinstein Center for a Hunger Free America has participated in and organized a wide variety of functions to keep the issues of hunger and poverty at the forefront of American consciousness.

The Center sponsored a "Faces of Hunger and the Urban Landscape" exhibit, participated in the Walk for Hunger and Homelessness, supported the Met School

Hunger Tour, contributed to the Can Do collection (part of the Feinstein Center's exhibit and Met School collection), and continued to support Alan Shawn Feinstein's petition calling on the President and Congress to do more to end hunger in the United States.

To date, the Feinstein Petition to End Hunger has collected 618,913 signatures.

To sign or send a free meal to a needy person, visit the URI website at www.uri.edu or click on www.feinsteinfoundation.com.

The URI Hunger Center events have three primary components:

1. Creating hunger awareness

2. Participatory workshops on hunger issues in Rhode Island and in the U.S.

3. Sharing stories

The URI Feinstein Center for a Hunger Free America is founded on the principles of eradicating hunger in Rhode Island and across the nation. The Center was initiated with a grant from Alan Shawn Feinstein, philanthropist and humanitarian leader. For further information on how you can be a part of this growing center, as a sponsor, lobbyist, volunteer, or supporter please contact Kathy Cevoli, at (401) 277-5427.

For Information: Kathy Cevoli, 401-277-5427, Jan Sawyer, 401-874-2116