Dexter Regional High School Key Club's 30 Hour Famine, held Friday and Saturday, involved two students from Greenville High School, one from Foxcroft Academy and the rest from Dexter Regional.

"It gives us an idea of how other people feel, and it shows us how fortunate we are," Ashley Chabot, a freshman at Dexter, said Saturday.

Chabot was among the students whose fast began at 11:30 a.m. Friday. During the event, the students consumed only juice, Popsicles and Jell-O.

They stayed inside the school, and a group of advisers monitored them to make sure no one could sneak any solid food during the fast.

This is the seventh year Dexter Regional has participated in World Vision's 30 Hour Famine, an international hunger-fighting program.

It is a Christian relief and development organization that helps children and families tackle the causes of poverty in about 100 countries.

The event is designed to encourage teenagers to raise money to help fight world hunger and poverty, according to Rick Whitney, Key Club adviser at Dexter.

Whitney expects the students will exceed the $660 raised last year for the event.

The students also did community service work at the school. They cleaned trophy cases, washed windows, tables and desks, and helped prepare the stage for this weekend's musical, "Annie Get Your Gun," Whitney said. They also played games.

It felt good to raise money for people less fortunate, said Jessica Randall, a Dexter Regional junior. This was her second year of participation.

"There are a lot of kids in other countries who go as much as 30 hours between meals," she said.

For Lucas Jewett, a Dexter Regional sophomore, the fast was a bit trying, especially after he got only three hours of sleep Friday night.

Wandering around the gymnasium in his pajama bottoms and a sweatshirt, Jewett was mumbling that he forgot where he left his clothes.

"It has been too long of a day," he said.

Greenville High School student Rebecca Martel said it was a good project.

"It sounded like a good opportunity to see how other people live and appreciate what we have," the sophomore said.
"This content originally appeared as a copyrighted article in the Monday, March 20, 2006 edition of the Bangor Daily NEWS and is used here with permission."