Free the Children club goes hungry to raise awareness of starvation

The College at Brockport's Free the Children club hosts events throughout the year to raise awareness of issues such as poverty, homelessness and world hunger. Many of the club's events are focused on empathizing with people who struggle with these issues on a daily basis. Its goal is to build awareness of these issues within the college community while providing students an opportunity to help those who are in need.

The club, led by President Britton Lense, participated in a 24-hour famine Thursday, Dec. 1 to bring awareness to world hunger and raise money for the cause.

The club's goal was to raise $6,000 for a water well to be built in a village in Kenya, where the club has already raised $8,500 to build a school for underprivileged kids. While the club did not meet its goal at this event, the members have collectively raised $11,275 for their efforts, minus the cost of the school, leaving them with only $2,235 left to raise in order to build the water well.

Students who participated in the 24-hour famine raised money through sponsorship from family and friends. Some participants, including Lense, went without food for more than 24 hours. Secretary of the club, Jessica Velez, went 27 hours and Lense did a full 48 hours.

"I did 27 (hours)," Velez said. "But it always starts [with] you feeling confident and happy because you're doing a good thing, (but) then the last five hours you're (struggling and) thinking about how people go through this every day."

Lense said before they reached the 24-hour mark, the participants watched YouTube videos of starving children as a reminder of their cause.

"I didn't think it was hard because every time you get hungry you think about why you're doing it," Lense said.

The club hosts other events with the idea of being in someone else's shoes, such as the displaced for a night event, which took place in September. The club slept outside on cardboard boxes with one blanket each to see how homeless people feel every day.

"[Our events] resemble what we take for granted in this country," Lense said. "We really don't see how fortunate we are to have basic human rights."

Lense stressed the events are more about increasing participation and raising awareness than raising money.

"We tried to portray that if you don't get sponsors, it's OK," Lense said.

He said the poor economy and upcoming holiday season made the club's fundraising efforts more difficult.

"It doesn't matter, because every penny counts," Lense said.

Lense started Free the Children club — an affiliate of a larger non-profit organization (NPO) from Canada — after participating in a 3.5 month Brockport study abroad program in Vietnam during spring 2010.

"It opened my eyes to what millions are living through every day," Lense said. "On a daily basis I got to [see] real poverty."

Lense said he saw many houses made of only concrete with no beds, no furniture and kids who had no toys.

"I came back knowing I had to do something, I had to help people," Lense said.

Upon returning from his trip, he sent out a Facebook message to friends saying "this is what I want to do, who wants to help?"

He said he got positive feedback so they started a Brockport Student Government (BSG) sponsored club in October 2010.

The members decided the club would work with the larger NPO Free the Children because it's a small, efficient organization, and they didn't want their money to get lost in millions.

"They care about every penny coming in," Lense said. "Other organizations that have a lot of money are not as appreciative of every cent."

The organization pinpoints certain communities in Third World countries to provide schools, water wells, alternative income opportunities and health and sanitary clinics, Lense said.

"They provide necessary resources [and] basic human needs to remove poverty in communities," Lense said.

Free the Children works closely with governments and local officials in the Third World countries the organization assists so they can become self-sustainable.

The organization often pays the salaries of the teachers in the schools they build, as well.

Members of Brockport's Free the Children club will have the opportunity to travel to Kenya in summer 2013 to put its fundraising efforts into action and build a school for a community in Kenya.

"We want to thank the students of Brockport, teachers, faculty, parents and family members," Lense said. "None of this would be possible without them."

Students interested in joining the Free the Children club should contact Lense at blens1@brockport.edu.