Hunger Banquet for Western Mass.

Objective:
This activity is an adaptation of Oxfam’s Hunger Banquet which demonstrates the unequal distribution of food and resources in our own region and helps participants understand some of the root causes of poverty and food insecurity that effect those in our communities.

Materials Needed:
Script (provided below), Color-coded tickets for each participant (see below for proper breakdown of demographics), “shift notice” scenario cards (see below for text), Four levels of meals (ranging from a very small, simple meal to a very lavish one)

Procedure:
Distribute color-coded tickets as participants enter (see table below for proper distribution of colors) and ask them to sit at tables based on the color ticket they received. Once everyone has arrived and the groups are assembled, the banquet leader can follow the script below through the end of part one.

Next, distribute “shift notices” to selected individuals in each group and follow part two of the script, asking participants to read their notices aloud and to make the necessary adjustments in their groupings.

After all adjustments are made, distribute food according to different income levels.

Script:

Introduction:
Welcome to the western Massachusetts Hunger Banquet. To better understand the needs and life styles of various groups in the area, living at different income levels, we will share one mealtime together. Each of you were given a ticket and placed within a group that depicts the range of annual income for a family. Some of you noticed your ticket has a mark on the back. We will apply those later in the simulation. First, let’s take a bird’s eye view of the region, and then we will cover details about each group.

The combined population of the 4 counties of western Mass is approximately 820,000. Each of you symbolizes a family household with your own children, under age 18, who live with you. There are approximately 316,755 families in the region. Most of them live in Hampden County in the area bordering Connecticut, and the smallest population is located in Franklin County, which borders Vermont to the north. For the purposes of this activity we combined statistics on income and poverty from the 4 counties.

Often, the fewer people living in an area mean that there will be fewer people paying taxes to support the infrastructure of a community. Infrastructures include town services like trash pick-up, schools and teachers salaries, snow plowing, police, road repair and maintenance. In areas with small populations there are usually fewer state and federal dollars supporting public health and welfare concerns as well. Now let’s examine each group.

Part One: Demographic Groups

Blue Group
The Blue ticket holders are the mid-range income group, earning between $25 -75,000 per year. Many of you are married and at least one of you has a college degree. One adult works full time and the other works at least part time. Your careers could be in education, social services, manufacturing, technology or business. Since you want to send your 2 children to college in a few years, you are trying to save money since their tuition could cost you over $30,000 each year if they go to private colleges.

You bought your home and pay a monthly mortgage. A large portion of your annual salary goes to the mortgage, property taxes, car and health insurance, and utilities such as heating oil and electricity. You can easily use credit for large purchases, such as new appliances, or plane tickets.
 

You plan your food budget carefully and purchase items on sale. For recreation you take advantage of many local parks, and free cultural activities. One week each year the family vacations in Florida, when you stay with a retired grandparent. When they are old enough, both children will earn money at summer jobs and work after school a couple days each week. Eventually, the kids will have to put most of their summer income into college savings. Overall, as long as your family stays healthy and the car keeps running, life goes along smoothly for you. Your group equals about 48% of the area’s families with children less than 18 years.


Purple Group
This is the high income group with a salary range between $75-199,000 yearly. Your children might attend private schools and you take two vacations each year and stay at resorts or small inns. You have invested money in a second home that you rent out and make income from each month. Your monthly expenses are high, but your combined salaries allow you to live very comfortably. You can choose any food items that appeal to you when you shop, and you frequently dine out. The cost of these restaurant meals is easily over $60. Since interest rates are so low now, you are considering purchasing a vacation home, and also a new car.
 

Since one of you works from a professional home office you deduct the business expenses on your income taxes, as well as the purchase of new business equipment, such as a computer and phone system. You might have a career in architecture, public relations, law or business. You have already saved for your children’s education by wisely investing a modest inheritance you received when your grandfather died. This group is about one-quarter, or 25%, of families who live in western Mass.


Orange Group
The Orange tickets comprise a low income group of families with annual incomes between $10-25,000. You represent nearly 13% of the families in western Mass. You may have immigrated to the US and are staying with relatives until you save money to move into your own home, or your family has a voucher to help you with your rent payments. Maybe you live in your own home and find it difficult to pay the mortgage, taxes and repairs. It is also possible that you rent out a room in the house to a non-family member to help make ends meet.
 

In this income group both adults work, at least part time. However, it is likely that there is a single adult female head of household. Your service jobs are often only 30 hours a week, so that employers do not have to pay health, vacation, or pension benefits. Friends and family are recruited to provide day care, if your children are not yet enrolled in school, since the cost of day care is too high, and you would need to wait ten years to get a day care voucher from public welfare.
 

You might manage a fast food restaurant, work for a motel chain, in a warehouse, as a secretary, or as a paraprofessional in a school. Your children are covered by Mass Health, but you still must find the money for a co-payment for each doctor’s, dentist, or hospital visit. The adults probably have limited or no health coverage.
 

Some of you own a car, and have to spend time and energy to keep it in good repair since the costs of having a garage fix it is too high. You regularly shop at second hand stores for clothing and household goods. It sometimes feels impossible to save money, although you can put a little aside if you have earned enough, but not too much, to qualify for Earned Income Tax Credit. If there are any emergencies, you will need to use your savings. Families in this situation could easily be are recipients of free food through food pantries. A night out for a meal could be at a soup kitchen or a fast food restaurant to keep costs down.
 

You might have completed high school, and perhaps had a year or two of college. Someday you plan to finish your education and are encouraging your children to stay in school. Although you could use a vacation to relax and rest, it puts too much of a strain on the budget to take any time off from work. Right now the necessities of daily life, food, shelter, clothing, and the families’ well-being are your priorities.
 

You could live in any of the counties, since rural, urban and suburban poverty rates are nearly equal. You would have better access to services if you lived in a high density population center, such as Pittsfield or Springfield. It is extremely difficult to travel to state offices to apply for food stamps or transitional assistance if you live in rural or outlying areas.


Yellow Group
With an income of under $10,000 each year, this group represents the most impoverished families in the region. The lack of internal resources creates intense stress on the family members, creating additional hurdles to earning more money. Those of you in this category are probably under 25 years old and often a single female head of household. You did not finish high school, but you would like to eventually get your GED and go onto the local community college.
 

Your survival depends partly on charitable supports from non-profit social services and religious groups. You know how to access food from meal sites and food pantries, but often find long lines and not necessarily the food items you prefer. You receive monthly food stamps, but they generally do not last very long. Since you get housing through public assistance your choices are very limited and could be dangerous for your children. By forcing impoverished families into isolated area of cities, towns, or suburbs where the low-income housing or sub-standard housing is located, we create ghettos. Schools in many low income areas are often under funded and overwhelmed with special needs of the children. In many cases your children are at risk for numerous childhood ailments and the incidence of asthma is very high.
 

You tend to use the hospital emergency room for general health care, since your coverage is limited to the state Mass Health plan. Again, your choices about food, housing, schools, and recreation are determined by your meager income. In rural areas you could be a farm family trying to survive during a poor market for your crops or products. Although you raise food and barter with neighbors, it is difficult to independently grow all that your family will need. Another scenario is that the head of the household is disabled and unable to work. The supplemental social security benefits that the family is entitled to receive do not cover the basics of daily life.
 

Unfortunately, this group is often ‘punished’ for their poverty, with strict restrictions on amounts of income that can be made while using public assistance, and severe limits on the length of time the state will offer any help. When you take part time work at a local factory you loose most of your welfare benefits and your children’s health insurance, making it even harder to support your family. This paradox makes it nearly impossible to save money to shift out of poverty. Massachusetts has one of the most punitive welfare policies in the nation.


Gray Group
There are very few of you in the top income group. In western Mass only 1.8% of the families make $200,000 or more every year. Yet, you control a greater proportion of the wealth than all the other groups combined because this sector includes those who make millions also. This is the income divide that we are seeing across the nation. Fewer and fewer families control more and more of the cash in the country. Somewhere along the line you either earned a significant amount of cash, or you were entitled to it through family connections, or you won the lottery.
 

You have a multitude of choices about food, housing, clothing, health care, and educational opportunities, these options extend to your children as well. You could have started, inherited a successful business, or just have been privileged to be born into wealth. You may make significant contributions to political campaigns, and to charitable organizations.
 

Your careers could be in sales, politics, entertainment, technology, medicine, or industry. If you are the owners or executives of corporations, you often commute by plane to a job in another part of the US or overseas. Even if you continue to choose to hold a daily job, you know that money makes money, so you will find ways to invest and expand your income base. Most tax laws favor the rich, even if it appears you pay a lot to the government, and new tax cuts for the highest income levels are being proposed at the federal level.
 

There is no question about having enough funds for college. In fact, you expect your children to attend one of the best schools in the country and then continue on for specialized training. Your family enjoys their numerous vacations around the world each year. Today the family is traveling to France in time for dinner - Bon Appetite!



Part Two: Shifting Demographics

In this section of the Hunger Banquet we will look at the impact on families when their income changes. Those of you who have a mark on the back of your tickets will receive a “shift notice”. Please read the scenario aloud, and then join the new group indicated. Remember that each of you represents an entire family with children, so the shift in life style affects everyone in your household.



Text of “shift notice” cards:

Blue Group
1. You are a manager at a precision tool company that is closing its Franklin County plant. Although the company will continue operations at its home base in Germany, you have not been asked to re-locate. You no longer have a job and the family will rely on your spouse’s part time income of $20,000. You must move to the Orange Group.

2. Unexpected health care costs for your child have put you in debt. Although your income is stable the overwhelming expenses due to the illness have changed the way you once lived. You now move to the Orange Group.


3. As an employee at a famous candle company, you are often requested to work overtime. One night you refuse to stay, and the following week you receive a termination notice. Please move to the Orange Group.

4. You held an excellent job as a personal assistant in an exclusive private home. With little warning you were dismissed from your job. You will be in the Yellow Group until a new job appears.


Purple Group
1. This has been a very bad year for your investments. You also had to close your home based business in the travel industry. Your spouse is still employed, and you still have money in savings, but the changes in your budget means you have to move to the Blue Group.

2. After your divorce, the changes in your income force you to be more conservative in your spending. Take your place with the Blue group.


Orange Group
1. After many years of saving money, you return to college and attain a professional degree. You new position as a school adjustment counselor moves you to the Blue Group.

2. You held a steady job as a housekeeper at a hotel until your recent injury. Even though you receive disability payments, the loss of income now places you in the Yellow Group.

3. You started a home based enterprise with a loan from friends. The success of the business moves you and your partner (pick one other person from your group!) to the Blue Group.


Yellow Group
1. Your social worker has found a placement for you in a life skills program that enables you to get a technical degree. You now have a job with benefits that moves you to the Orange Group.


Gray Group
1. Your income has been deeply affected by the recent corporate scandals. Your assets protect you from feeling much of a change in lifestyle, and you will get to deduct the stock losses from the income tax you pay. Unfortunately, you did have to let go of one of your personal assistants. You can stay where you are.


We have completed the changes section of the activity, and it is now time to eat. Each group stays together for their meal. Depending on your income level you will find varying degrees of quality and quantities of food. Once we have finished the meal we will de-brief about the experience. A student organizer will help each color group with acquiring their food.



 

*The over $200,000 income level for this size sample would be less than zero. However, for the purposes of the activity one person should be placed in this group.

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