Going to bed hungry isn't a matter of choice for many children in the world. But for a group of Mesquite youngsters, they'll choose to go to bed with empty stomachs on Friday, Feb. 22.
The youngsters are part of the Living Waters and The Word Café Fellowship and they'll be raising money for World Visions 30 Hours of Famine.
"They will start their fast at midnight (12 a.m., Friday) and then fast until we get up for breakfast on Saturday morning," said Lois Clayton of Living Waters, located at 450 Hillside Dr., Suite 200 in Building A. "Every dollar raised will feed and care a child for 30 days."
The sacrifice made by the young people, however, won't help if local residents don't do their part by donating to the anti-famine cause. There are two ways. They can go on-line to www.30hoursoffamine.org or they can call Clayton at 346-2982.
On Feb. 22, the participating young people will go to school without breakfast and skip lunch.
"They will be spending their fast after school at Living Waters, where they will be playing games related to the fast and spending the night so we can break the fast together," Clayton added.
But for the estimated 925 million people who live with daily hunger it's no game.
That's the number of people, according to 30hoursoffamine.org, who suffer with hunger every day, about one on seven out of earth's population. Many families in other countries live on less than $2 per day. That leads to the staggering statistic that a child dies of hunger-related causes every 13 seconds. By the time you've read this far into this story, five more children have died due to the complications of malnutrition.