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Date: 4/13/2023
EAST LONGMEADOW — When 10 young adults at St. Luke Greek Orthodox Church broke their fast by eating plain pasta and sauce during Lent, it was the first taste of food they had in 30 hours. It was the end of their famine, and the beginning of understanding what starving children around the word endure.
“We experience hunger to further understand the suffering by millions of people. Our fast only represents a fraction of the struggles faced by others, but it still increases our understanding of how difficult people’s lives are that are affected by food insecurity,” said 16-year-old Alexander Coulouras.
The students and their priest held a service in the chapel and prayed for strength before moving on to the fellowship hall to begin their fast. There was no food, only water along with videos and activities that taught the teens how civil war, weather, political upheaval and more can cut off food supplies to desperate families living in poverty.
It was a difficult message for young people trying to experience a bit of the suffering their peers endure in other parts of the world.
“They lean on each other for support. We do things that simulate experiences children have in countries where there is famine and hunger,” said Kelly Dimitroglou, who is the group’s advisor.
According to the World Health Organization, the number of people affected by hunger globally rose to as many as 828 million in 2021, an increase of about 46 million since 2020. The number is closer to one billion today.
Many of these people are suffering from the effects of drought. The teens in East Longmeadow are more aware of this now after being challenged to find water in receptacles around the church, collect it in jugs and carry it back to where the group was gathering.
“It creates the understanding that it’s not just going to one source. They have to find many sources of water and once their containers are full, they have the hard work of carrying the water back home,” says Dimitroglou.
The group raised nearly $2,000 for World Vision, an organization battling hunger around the world. “Fasting is a time of prayer as it allows us time to connect with God and emulate the sacrifice Christ made for us in his 40 days in the desert,” says Coulouras.
Dimitroglou says her own four children joined the famine when they were young. Now that they’re grown and gone, she wants to continue the church’s tradition of fasting to fight hunger.
“It became very personal to me as something I would like to see continue and that I want to stay involved in. I love to see the light in our young people. This is a way to empower them to understand and do something about these crises in the world,” she said.
During the fast the students prepared a meal of baked ziti, carrot sticks and cookies to help Loaves and fishes feed 150 people. While world hunger shows no sign of abating, the children ended their fast with a prayer for the impoverished, and a simple Lenten meal.
“We can no longer say our neighbors are just around the corner,” said Dimitroglou. “Nations around the world have become our communities, and their crises impact us as Christians.”