About 83 people die every five minutes from hunger-related causes, a survey by the EIU-Haiti Connection reported. The annual Hunger Banquet, sponsored by the Haiti Connection, was held Tuesday with the purpose of raising awareness of world hunger-related issues.

The hour long event held in the Newman Catholic Center also helped raise money for poverty-stricken countries.

As people came in to the center, they were asked to pick a piece of paper out of a jar that would tell them what level -orld country they were representing. Those representing a first-world country sat at a table and were waited on in a restaurant-type setting. Those representing the second world also sat at a table, but not as elegant as the first world’s setting. And the third world had to line up at a table to get their food and eat it on the floor.

The rules of the banquet were as follows: first world representatives were able to talk with anyone from the second or third-world countries. Second-world country representatives were able to talk to the third-world representatives, but weren’t able to talk to the first-world representatives unless they talked to them first. And the third-world representatives couldn’t talk to anyone from the first or second world unless any one of them talked to them first.

“Students wanted to see how it’s like to live in a third world country,” said Roy Lanham, a campus advisor and member of the Haiti Connection. “What really hit home for them was the many people who die from hunger everyday. They just wanted to see how it works.”

The banquet was centering on creating an acknowledgment of hunger issues, said Chris Lempa, a senior history major and the emcee of the event.

“This event is about raising the awareness of the world hunger problem, something that can be easily taken care of,” he said.

Lempa said he encourages Eastern students and the surrounding community to get involved supporting efforts against world hunger in any way possible.

Haiti, which is located off the coast of Florida, is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, according to the Haiti Connection.

The country has about 7 million people and 80 percent of them live in poverty.

Many Haitians don’t have running water or safe drinking water. The average wage at jobs in Haiti is only $2.50 per day, and nearly two-thirds of the population does not have formal jobs.

“It was very interesting to see what it feels like to live in a third-world country,” said Amy Miller, an undeclared graduate student in attendance. “It was an eye-opener . It really made you think about how lucky we are.”

The banquet helped raise over $700. The money will go to the cause of helping with the hunger and water problem in Haiti.