UO Oxfam Hunger Banquet and Food Drive

Tuesday, November 18 | 5:30–7:30 p.m.
Knight Library Browsing Room

Hunger is not an accident of nature, but a result of how resources get distributed. The UO Oxfam Hunger Banquet is an immersive event designed to make food distribution impossible to ignore. When you arrive at this event, you draw a card at random, and it will assign you to a high-, middle-, or low-income tier, in proportions drawn from current global inequality statistics. The event meal distribution will go like this: 

• Twenty percent of guests are seated at tables and served a full meal. 
• Thirty percent receive rice and beans. 
• The remaining half sit on the floor with a small portion of rice and water. 

Nobody chooses their tier, and that is the point. After the meal, everyone comes together to talk about what they experienced and what can be done with it. Oxfam has been running Hunger Banquets for more than fifty years, beginning with the 1974 Fast for a World Harvest, when 250,000 people across the United States skipped a meal to take a stand against hunger and inequality. Since then, nearly a million people have attended one of Oxfam's Banquets. 

We are also running a campus-wide food drive. Everything collected goes to the Student Food Pantry. We encourage donations of non-perishable food items, including canned beans, canned proteins (such as tuna), spices, condiments, and holiday foods such as canned cranberry sauce. Other non-perishable food donations are also welcome! 

UO Oxfam Hunger Banquet and Food Drive is sponsored by the Global Justice Project and presented as part of International Education Month.

RSVP for the event is encouraged but not required. 

RSVP to UO Oxfam Hunger Banquet

1. Information on the Student Food Pantry and other resources geared toward students can be found on the UO’s Basic Needs Program website.
2. Food for Lane County: a nonprofit food bank in Eugene that serves thousands of individuals and families across Lane County
3. Grow Lane County: a regional initiative to bring individuals and organizations together to advance health equity and food security; includes the Food Security Coalition, which brings together community members to collaborate and engage with each other to identify gaps, solutions, recommendations, and opportunities to improve regional food security. Grow Lane County provides producer and partner agency grants and is hosting a Food Security Summit on November 19, 2026 (RSVP by November 12).
4. Burrito Brigade: rescues and shares food through programs like Weekend Burrito Brigade, Waste to Taste and Little Free Pantries.
5. CARES Center: assists the Lane County community with essential needs to alleviate stressors in their life; hosts a useful map of Lane County Pantries and accepts volunteers, food and monetary donations.
6. Plaza de Nuestra Comunidad: supports Latinx and immigrant community members with various services including an Organic Garden Program
7. Neighborhood Anarchist Collective provides a little guide to free resources
8. Eugene Food Not Bombs: provides free mostly vegan/vegetarian meals and groceries while protesting war, poverty, and hunger (see their Instagram or Facebook page)
9. Neighbors Feeding Neighbors (NFN): a faith-based nonprofit that provides free hot breakfasts and take-away lunches at the Washington Jefferson Park
10. Acorn Community Café: plant-based restaurant that features a pay-it-forward board with free meals that have been paid for by customers

Questions? Contact the Human Rights Coalition at humanrights@uoregon.edu