Brown University News Bureau

The Brown University News Bureau

1998-1999 index

Distributed November 17, 1998
Contact: Tracie Sweeney

Four Brown students part of national kickoff

Oxfam America features Brown's Marble Project in nation's capital

Four Brown University students representing the campus chapter of Oxfam America and its innovative Marble Project will be featured in the U.S. Capitol as Oxfam America kicks off its 25th annual "Fast for a World Harvest" Thursday, Nov. 19.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Four Brown University students representing the campus chapter of Oxfam America and their innovative Marble Project will be featured in Washington, D.C., when Oxfam kicks off its 25th annual "Fast for a World Harvest," one of the largest anti-hunger campaigns of its kind, on Thursday Nov. 19, at 10 a.m. in the House side of the Capitol Building.

The students - Laura Jones '99 of Old Greenwich, Conn., Madhavi Shah '99 of Longmeadow, Mass., Sae Wi '01 of Seoul, Korea, and Soren Spies '00 of Evanston, Ill. - will attend the kickoff at 10 a.m. and will accompany the Marble Project during its exhibition in the U.S. Capitol Nov. 19-20; at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va., Nov. 21-23; and at Union Station in Washington, D.C., Nov. 24 and 25. At each location, the Brown students will share with passers-by information about global hunger and what people can do to help end it.

The Marble Project machine, which resembles a giant hourglass, was created by Brown's Oxfam chapter in 1994. The hourglass is filled with thousands of marbles, which drop one by one through the narrow neck every 2.5 seconds, the frequency at which a child dies from hunger-related problems. At Brown, passers-by are invited to purchase marbles for $5 each, with the money going toward Oxfam projects. Four other colleges have built their own marble machines using Brown's blueprints. Collectively, the Marble Projects have raised nearly $15,000, with nearly $7,000 coming from Brown alone, said Jones.

While the Brown quartet and the Marble Project are in Washington, D.C., a number of Brown students will be participating in a 30-hour fast on campus to raise money for Oxfam. The University's Office of the Chaplain is sponsoring a special brunch the morning of Nov. 20 for those students who fasted.

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