By Eric Lutz

November 3, 2009

Small kids and their parents were in the Prospect Room of the Frick Center in the early afternoon on Halloween, costumed and getting their faces painted or playing Bozo-buckets with candy. 

There was one child dressed as Yoda, another as the Hulk.  It might be hard to believe, but all the face painting and candy-munching was for a good cause.

It was the concluding event of Poverty Week at Elmhurst College, which began Oct. 25 and ran through Oct. 31, designed both to raise money for the impoverished and to raise awareness of poverty at home and abroad.

The week’s events were eclectic, including panel discussions, musical performances, a lecture and a fair trade sale.

To Dan Zarlenga, President of the Global Poverty Club, the diverse set of events reflected a community effort between his club and the college.

 “Everyone really came together,” he said.  “There was a lot of collaboration.”

 As one might expect, the week took a great deal of planning.

The idea came at the end of last year, and the group spent the summer and beginning of this semester working on it.  The members of the Global Poverty Club jokingly have a contest to see who can get the least amount of sleep.

Still, to Zarlenga, the experience has been worth it.

“It’s gone great.  Everything has been going off almost perfectly,” he said.

As for the little Hulks and Yodas, Zarlenga hopes they come away from the event with the same feeling people who have participated in the rest of the week have hopefully had: a greater awareness.