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"Oxfam America has hit the web today to promote its Hunger Banquet program, which teaches citizens about poverty and hunger and how they can help those in need.\nThe first proxy of the Hunger Banquet \u2014 the Fast for a World Harvest \u2014 occurred in 1974, when 250,000 people across the U.S. fasted for a day or meal and donated their food money to Oxfam, an international relief and development organization that's active in more than 100 countries. \nWell, the organization has come a long way since then, today launching a (hopefully) viral video starring actress Charlyne Yi (Paper Heart, Knocked Up). The vid features music from Rogue Wave and Ra Ra Riot, and is hosted on a custom player created by Strategic Productions (who also produced the vid). The player allows viewers to join Oxfam within the video itself, making it easy to get involved. Oxfam will also be promoting the campaign via its Facebook and Twitter, as well as a centralized hub at oxfamamerica.org/hungerbanquet.\nThe website also includes a guide that explains how to create your own hunger banquet, encouraging folks to really turn this whole thing into a movement. \nSo what exactly is a hunger banquet? Basically, guests draw tickets that assign them to either high, middle or low income tiers (based on recent poverty stats). The 15% in the upper class get a big meal, the 35% in the middle class bracket are served rice and beans and the 50% in the low-income category receive only rice and water. Guests can also playact the role of the bracket they inhabit (the guide includes instruction on how to do this). At the end, everyone discusses their experiences and how to take action.\n\u201CFor more than 35 years, the Oxfam America Hunger Banquet has been one of the best recognized and effective events, introducing tens of thousands of people to Oxfam's mission and enabling them to help in the fight against hunger and poverty,\" says Nancy Delaney, constituency outreach manager for Oxfam. \n\"Oxfam is re-vamping the way activists can take action with us, in order to reach out to a new generation \u2014 online toolkits and a centralized action hub will make it easier for everyone to find and host their own event, and our video campaign highlights the experience of the event and makes it easy for viewers to sign up right on the video player. This is all just the beginning of a new chapter of Oxfam's outreach to the next generation of Hunger Banquet activists,\" she adds.\nWe sat down with Charlyne Yi and Amy York Rubin, founder/CEO of Strategic Productions, via Skype to chat about the campaign. Check out our interview below.  You can see the video the team created here.\nOur Interview\n\n\n\n\n\n\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2010/09/08/oxfam-hunger-banquet/>