One of the biggest summer blockbusters for the past few years, The Hunger Games franchise, has inspired a lot in youth culture since the novels first hit the racks in 2008. T-shirts, toys, and even Jennifer Lawrence’s trademark braid are in high demand among the series’s target demographic, teens. The irony there being that The Hunger Games actually depict a dreary future where a rich upper class walk on the downtrodden in order to maintain their high class lifestyle (involving designer clothes, high-tech gadgets and fanciful haircuts). This serves as an allegory for the blind consumption of American culture, one most fans seem to miss.
But four students at Concord High School heard the message loud and clear. “Game Makers” Della Dolcino, Maggie Lee, Joe Ossoff and Skye Reese, juniors at CHS, have used The Hunger Games as inspiration to start a charity, which they’ve lovingly dubbed “The Hunger Games For Hunger.”
Starting in November 2013, the organization has held mock Hunger Games in their backyards. In the series, the games are a brutal fight to the death, broadcast live for public entertainment. For these kids, it’s a couple hours of playing with foam swords and NERF guns in the woods. Friends and family can sponsor the student “tribute” with money or cans, and all proceeds go to Concord’s Friendly Kitchen, which provides free food to the disenfranchised.
At their last event this past November, they raised $1,006.22, not counting cans.
“It’s all about creating a fun way to raise money for a good cause,” Skye Reese said. “Sometimes it’s hard to get kids our age involved in that kind of thing.”
As simple as the event sounds, making it interesting enough to get return attendees proved difficult, as there were a lot of details they didn’t account for at first.
“There was a lot of planning,” Reese said. “Hours of sitting around, talking about the best way to do things; how to set up the arena, how many people should play at once, what weapons to allow, what locations, all the way down to what food to bring the day of.
“We’ve gotten better as time’s gone on, so now most of the work is done the day of, working on The Arena and The Capitol.”
The Capitol, as it was described to us, is the headquarters for the event organizers and “dead” tributes, full of food and extra foam swords. It sounds like a fun time all around.
“My favorite part is the start, watching everyone run down to The Cornucopia” Reese said, referencing the stock pile of fake weapons. “Seeing battles go down, watching alliances be made. It’s a good day. Afterwards, everyone bonds and gets to know each other. Everyone’s putting in an effort to help with the overall goal.”
So far, the event is student only. More information can be found at their Facebook page at facebook.com/hunger-games-for-hunger.
