SOUL FOOD:

This wasn’t your usual sleepover. They called it “A Lenten Journey of knowing hunger so there might be no hunger.”

Four boys and three girls — along with their youth pastor and three young adult volunteers — gathered Friday evening at St. Wilfrid of York Episcopal Church for World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine, an international youth movement to fight hunger and poverty.

Carly Mazure is 12 , almost 13, she says. Tall and slender, with dark blond hair nearly to her waist, she’s always in motion.

She joined in the 30 Hour Famine, which includes a 30-hour fast, because she wanted to raise money for hungry children in third-world countries.

“I think it’s really sad how [some children] don’t get enough food,” Mazure said. By asking others to sponsor her, she raised $40.

Indefatigably cheerful Kelly Beitler is 17. She decided to be part of the 30 Hour Famine in spite of being sick.

“It helps inform people about [other] people who are less fortunate than us,” she said. “It really opens a lot of people’s eyes.”

Alex and Andrew Malinis are freshmen at Ocean View High School. The gregarious twins took on the 30 Hour Famine for similar reasons.

Andrew wondered what it would be like to live without much of what he has, while Alex wanted to experience going for a while without food. He imagined it would make him more appreciative of what he has.

When the group watched a World Vision film about hungry children in Africa, Andrew was feeling hungry himself. But he realized his hunger would soon end.

The children in the film, however, “have to deal with it every single day,” he said.

Seventh-grader Eli Martin wore a 30 Hour Famine T-shirt bearing the slogan “Will starve for food.” He was there, he said, because, “I thought it would ... help me understand how other people feel who are poor.”

Martin raised $464.25 for World Vision by explaining to his sponsors that, through World Vision, $30 would feed a child for a month.

He had first garnered $4.25, going door-to-door asking for a dollar. “Then,” he said, “I started asking for 20s and 30s and 40s.”

Sixth-grader Chris Gabler was quiet and pensive. He came to the 30 Hour Famine, he said, largely because his mother made him. The youngest of the group, he said it also “sounded pretty cool.”

Early on, closer to a dozen kids told the Rev. Allison Rainey English, the church’s youth pastor, they’d take part. But some got sick and others — or their parents — got cold feet.

“One of the main things we have to do when we’re having a program is advertise that there’s food,” explained Kelly. “That’s how we get most people there. But fasting kind of doesn’t have food, so…”

Her thought tapered off to a giggle before it broke into a laugh. Like the others in the church’s youth center Friday, Beitler had eaten her last meal before noon.

The 30 Hour Famine fast is aimed at youth. So to guard their well-being, participants are allowed to drink water, Gatorade and fruit juice.

But food was off the menu until 6 p.m. Saturday. For 30 hours, these kids would gain food for thought instead.

There would be no fasting from prayer, community service, learning about hunger and poverty in the world, or reflecting on their experience through discussions and journal keeping.

Early Friday evening in the church’s chapel, they prayed the devotion known as the Stations of the Cross. A spiritual pilgrimage through Jesus’ last hours before his crucifixion, the prayers are a tradition of Lent for Roman Catholics, Anglicans, Episcopalians and some Lutherans.

Before lights out, the group gathered in the youth center by candlelight for evening prayer. The rest of the 30 Hour Famine would be punctuated by prayer.

As part of a “Survivor”-styled game designed by World Vision, two teams were assigned different Latin American countries, or “tribes.” The game, called “Tribe: Amazon,” also gave each youth an “identity card” describing a hungry, impoverished child.

Whether from Peru, Ecuador, Columbia, Brazil or Bolivia, the lives of these Amazon children are plagued with food shortages, water scarcity, natural disasters and often the threat of rebel guerrillas.

“Tribe: Amazon” games with names like “Food Grab,” “¡Peligro!” (Danger!), “Hide,” and “Endurance,” offered the youths at St. Wilfrid glimpses of living with these challenges. “Endurance,” for example, required players to hold a gallon jug of water extended in front of them for as long as they could.

The best time was about 18 seconds, clearly giving the kids an appreciation for how heavy a load of water can be. But I suspect they still scarcely grasp how far some people must haul their potable water — often through insufferable heat and areas of great danger.

But this was a start. And service projects for Beach Cities Interfaith Services in downtown Huntington Beach brought the issues of hunger and poverty closer to home.

The kids delivered travel-sized hygiene products, which they’d collected, to Beach Cities Interfaith Services on Saturday. Nearly 24 hours into their fast, they were showing high energy.

Carly tap-danced. Many snapped digital photos while others mugged for the shots.

After a tour of Beach Cities Interfaith Services, the kids filled zippered plastic bags with toiletries for its clients. Back at the church they dispersed in teams into adjacent neighborhoods to collect basic nonperishable foods — peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, pasta, dried beans and powdered milk — for the nonprofit.

Considering a sack of the food, Martin noted it wasn’t much. “I think [the people who receive it] try to make it last as long as they can so they can still eat,” he said.

Approaching the end of the fast, most admitted to being hungry. “If it was just me, I’d probably crack,” Carly said. “But everybody else is here to help me through it.”

Some imagined having a meal of pasta, burgers and fries or dining at a buffet restaurant like Souplantation.

Asked if the 30 Hour Famine would change the way he eats, Alex laughed and shook his head. “I have no idea,” he said. “Maybe…”

Time will tell, I guess. And this isn’t the last lesson on hunger and poverty English has in store for the youths in her care.

MICHÈLE MARR is a freelance writer from Huntington Beach. She can be reached at [email protected].