From the archives: LI teens in 30-hour fund-raiser for tsunami and famine victims

This story was originally published in Newsday on February 26, 2005

Olivia Kim has given up pizza, fries and any other food - at least until 6:30 Saturday night.

Olivia, 14, of East Islip, is one of a group of 40 Long Island teenagers forsaking food for 30 hours to get a taste of what the world's poorest children endure. The Long Island teens, members of Planet Impact, a youth group of the Smithtown Gospel Tabernacle, are taking part in the annual "30-hour Famine" sponsored by World Vision, a Christian international poverty relief organization.

World Vision expects a million teens in 21 countries will fast this year and raise donations for their effort.

Olivia raised $120 from teachers, neighbors and her parents. Besides Southeast Asia tsunami relief, funds raised will go to relieve a refugee crisis in Sudan and a severe famine in Kenya.

Unlike most of her fellow fasters, Olivia is a veteran at making the sacrifice, having fasted last year with a group from the Copiague Christian Church. "The last five hours are the hardest," she said. That's when she starts thinking longingly about deep-dish pizza, her favorite food.

Inspired by the tsunami tragedy, however, the group, ages 13 to 18, was "ready to go" Friday, said Joyce Mulcahy of Deer Park, a volunteer leader. The fast began after lunch at 12:30 Friday and ends at 6:30 Saturday night.

The teens will not sit idle yearning for pizza, Mulcahy said. They began a community service weekend Friday night by cleaning and sorting at the Farmingdale food warehouse of Hope for the Future Ministries, an agency that provides hot meals for the needy in Manhattan, Farmingdale and Hempstead.

After that, the group was to spend the night in Youth With a Mission's Smithtown auditorium, where they had rigged up cardboard tents to simulate a refugee camp. "We want to see what it feels like to be displaced," Mulcahy said. The young people were allowed to bring their own sleeping bags, however. They were also supplied with juice and water.

After breakfast juice, Saturday's schedule calls for splitting up into small groups for various service projects, including entertaining the elderly in St. Catherine of Siena Nursing Home in Smithtown, and cleanup projects at Youth With a Mission, the Smithtown Gospel Tabernacle and Long Island Teen Challenge, a drug recovery and prevention program in West Babylon.

Olivia said she just wanted to be like her favorite actress, Angelina Jolie, who "gives her time and money to poor children."