Fasting for the Hungry

    Most college kids will cut loose this Friday night, but that's not the case for a group of students at College of the Ozarks.

    Some students with the O-of-O Campus Ministry are spending their day raising money for starving children, and they're doing it in a very different way.

    More than 80 students are going to hold a 30 hour fast to not only raise money but also awareness of world hunger.
    While fasting, students will spend the night in cardboard shelters outside of area stores.

    They'll be working to raise money that will go to World Vision, an organization that feeds hungry children around the globe.

    In past years the event's organizer says students have raised thousands of dollars.

    This year more students are participating than ever before, and World Vision has pledged to match what they earn eight times over.

    Students have already held a run through at the school's cafeteria to make their classmates aware of a worldwide problem they say is worth their suffering to help solve.

    "I've been on a mission trip and I know, I've seen what it's like and so this is my way now that I'm back in the states to have an opportunity to make a difference," says Charity Stillings, a senior at C of O.
 
    Dustin Manning knows how cold a night in February can be with only a cardboard box to protect you .
    But, he says it's worth his temporary discomfort.

    "If I can take just one day out of my time, you know, to make a difference, to just go out and spend some time with the people and collect some money, you know, can really make a difference," says Manning.

    This will be Kit Alarid's first year to fast.

    "One thing that really captures me is one dollar is able to feed a child, and I'm really excited to see how much money we can raise as a result of this," says Alarid.

    The students will be outside of Branson Wal Mart stores and the Wal Mart in Ozark as well as the Branson K Mart.
    So if you see them, they ask that you make a donation.

    The event's organizer says one year a group of students raised $5,000, but that was with just 30 students, and with more than twice that number this year, they're hoping to break that old record.