Campus Community to Participate in Fast-a-Thon

Wesleyan’s second annual Interfaith Fast-a-Thon will be held on Thursday, Sept. 25, and culminate with a Ramadan Banquet. Participants will fast for one day and donate the cost of meals to local charities. The day’s events will conclude at 5:45 p.m. with a ‘Break-fast Banquet’ at Beckham Hall catered by the Middletown’s Haveli India restaurant.
Last year, $4,500 was raised by approximately 250 students, faculty and staff who attended the first Fast-a-Thon. The idea for the event was initiated by Muslim Student Association (MSA) and Interfaith Justice League (IJL) leader Nadeem Modan ’10.

This year, the event is not only open to Wesleyan staff, faculty and students but to residents of Middletown and the greater Hartford area. Money raised will be given to the St. Vincent De Paul Place’s Amazing Grace Food Pantry. Middletown Mayor Sebastian N. Giuliano issued a proclamation and the city’s Common Council issued a resolution in support of the Fast-a-Thon. Modan says that the goal this year is to raise $10,000. The Fast-a-Thon helps Mayor Giuliano’s “Amazing Challenge” in which he will match each dollar donation to the food pantry at 50 cents, up to $25,000.

Students can donate meal points and other individuals can bring donations (cash or a check made out “Wesleyan University” with “IJL” in the memo) to the banquet. Donations can also be mailed to Fast-a-Thon, c/o Center for Community Partnerships, 167 High Street, 1st Floor, Middletown, CT 06459. Reservations are highly recommended. To RSVP, email interfaith.fastathon@gmail.com.

The fellow co-planners of this year’s event along with Modan are Rachel Berkowitz ’09, who is an IJL and Havurah leader, and Ann-Marie Illsley ’10, also an IJL leader as well as an active member of the Wesleyan Christian Fellowship. The entire list of sponsors includes: IJL, MSA, Haveli’s, Bon Appetit, the University Chaplains, Office of Community Service, Adelphic Education, Student Budgetary Committee and Student Activities and Leadership Development.

“The Fast-a-Thon is an opportunity to show solidarity against hunger, and to demonstrate that although we may come from different religions, nationalities, or backgrounds, the principles and values we share are much greater than the things which divide us,” says Modan. “The Fast-a-Thon allows participants to raise a large sum of money to alleviate hunger and simultaneously make a resounding statement of solidarity, with the hungry as well as amongst each other.”

For additional information, email interfaith.fastathon@gmail.com.