I was wondering how many of you have done the 30 Hour Famine before? For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, the 30 Hour Famine (or Famine for short) is a program that World Vision does every year to help raise money for starving children in Third World countries like Ethiopia and Kenya. My youth group and I just started it on Wednesday (this is my 5th time doing it or so) and basically we will be fundraising for money until the end of this February, then we will fast from food for 30 hours (hence the name "30 Hour Famine") and raise even more money. All the money raaised during the whole Famine process goes directly to World Vision to help feed starving children and to help save lives. Here is why my Youth Group and I do it (this following section was from my 30 Hour Famine Student Guide): "There's a lot going on in the world. From Hurrican Katrina to the tsunami in South Asia, there's a lot to be concerned about. What isn't covered on T.V. and in the papers is how hunger, disease and poverty are killing millions and millions of young children every year. [b]29,000 every day---more than the tsunami every week.[/b] [u]10,585,000 last year alone.[/u] That's almost a million people who die every month---a million deaths that can be prevented. 20 people dead every single minute. One more every 3 seconds. Kids who want to play, but don't have the energy to walk. They're blind, paralyzed, weak with sickness, severly dehydrated...and they're watching hunger kill off---one by one---many of their brothers, sisters, and friends. Overall, the annual death toll is more than 30 times higher than from the South Asia tsunami [i]and[/i] Hurricane Katrina [b]combined.[/b] It's time the hunger crisis gets the attention it deserves. By being part of World Vision's 30 Hour Famine, you'll make a life-changing difference! [b]Starve Hunger.[/b]" Basically, my youth group and I as well as thousands of youth groups world wide are raising money to save lives. If any of you have done it, I would love to hear your stories from it and any ideas you can give me and my youth group on how to fundraise for it. If you haven't done it before, I would strongly encourage you to get your youth group and/or church to do it!!! It is a very rewarding experience! If you do do it with your youth group and/or church and don't do much as far as fundraising goes, I would strongly encourage you to put forth your best efforts on raising money, 'cause it's all about saving starving children, not haveing fun! If my youth group of about 20 teens can raise over $20,000 (about $100,000 with government grants), than large and small youth groups alike can do it! God Bless you all! Also, please pray for the 30 Hour Famine and all who are doing it! Thanks! Horsechic1990 P.S. Check out www.30hourfamine.org for more info. P.S.S. If you have done the 30 Hour Famine before, then please join my group I created called 30 Hour Famine! It's actually not running yet, but I'll put a link for it here as soon as it is working!

Awesome! I did it for the first time last summer. I think our group of 50-ish raised over $20,000. We all did it individually though, I'd be really excited to see what would happen if we had fundraisers as a group. I'm homechooled so I didn't have the opportunity to do anything typical at school but I wrote letters to my neighbors and it was well worth it! It was really fun during the 30 Hours because we had a really big group and did these fun games with small groups representing different countries and cultures, we even went to war and stuff. They really engaged your mind in what it was like for those your were fasting for. I also have never played spoons for so many hours in my life.:silly:

I've done it a few times. It was a good experience.

I participated in the 30 Hour Famine a few years ago and it was the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me God works in mysterious ways. ~Destaney~;)

I am so glad to hear that other people have done the 30 Hour Famine on here besides me and all your stories are AMAZING (thanks for sharing them with me!)! Last year when I did the 30 Hour Famine with my Youth Group, I had it somewhat difficult at first. Last year, the date for the start of the fasting portion of the 30 Hour Famine started on the day that I was flying back home from Disneyland with my family (thank goodness it's on the same time zone as WA! lol) and then I had to rush home and pack to go to my church. The next day we all went collecting money door-to-door which was especially tough when we were about 24 hours into the fasting and always smelled fried chicken and other yummy foods! Also, last year I was going door-to-door for the 30 Hour Famine and some rude atheist guy slammed the door in my group's face (for door-to-door, my youth group gets split up into groups of 2 or 3)! I think it was the year before last year, my youth group and I did service projects during the fasting portion, and the girls had to go to the QFC by my church and buy food to give out to needy families in the area. It was hard 'cause everyone was sooooo hungry, but it was obviously worth it! If any of you watched the new 30 Hour Famine info. video for this year and see a girl wearing an orange shirt and packing bags with food, then that was most likely me!

Here is the link for my 30 Hour Famine group: http://www.mypraize.com/index.php?option=com_groupjive&task=showgroup&groupid=8154 If you've done it before and/or are doing it right now, you should totally join it! Thanks!;)