It’s the last three hours of hunger that get you, not the 27 before it, high school wrestler Gregory Kritenbrink says of the marathon fast he and thousands of other young Coloradans began Friday.
To raise awareness about global hunger, Kritenbrink and about 2,000 Christian teens across the Denver area – with thousands more nationwide – gathered in spirit this weekend to do without food for 30 hours.
It’s their way of getting a taste of what it’s like to be hungry, and also raising money for World Vision, a Christian poverty-relief organization that helps children in more than 100 countries.
“This helps us realize what people go through each day, though for us it’s just a few hours,” said Kritenbrink, 17, an Arapahoe High School junior and member of St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Highlands Ranch.
As a wrestler, Kritenbrink is accustomed to small fasts before each meet, avoiding last-minute gains that could bounce him from a weight class.
But those aren’t 30-hour ordeals. This, said Kritenbrink, who did his second fast, is much harder.
Youth-group colleague Krista Herring agreed, saying the exercise is as much spiritual as it is practical.
“It’s hard to imagine being without food for 30 hours, to go to sleep hungry, when there are people in the world who don’t eat for weeks at a time,” said the 16-year-old sophomore at Highlands Ranch High School.
“We watch the clock to see when we can eat again, but we know that a lot of people don’t get to do that.”
Part of the day was spent packaging medical supplies and clothing at the World Vision warehouse in north Denver, one of two gift-in-kind centers the group has nationally. The other is in Pittsburgh.
“With more than 1.2 billion people living on less than $1 a day, this is an awareness-building exercise as much as it is a relief effort,” said Michael Pritchard, a volunteer coordinator at World Vision in Denver.
Last year World Vision raised $11.6 million during the 30-hour fast.
At 6 p.m., 22 teenagers who had participated in the World Vision event broke their fast at Denver’s Augustana Lutheran Church.
First, they had a “relief meal” of dried beans, cornmeal, sugar and dried milk. That was followed by pizza and lasagna.
“It gives you a whole other view, not being able to eat,” said Kacie Miller, 17. “It kind of makes you appreciate what you have.”
Staff writer Gabriela Resto-Montero contributed to this story.
Staff writer David Migoya can be reached at 303-954-1506 or dmigoya@denverpost.com.
