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Amin Eddebbarh (right), a second-year psychology student, and Muhibb Khan, a third-year economics

Over 200 students on campus elected Thursday to forgo food and water between sunrise and sunset in order to help provide much-needed nourishment for people who battle starvation every day – Los Angeles’ homeless population.

As part of the Muslim Student Association’s annual Fast-a-thon, non-Muslim students joined Muslim students for a day to fast from sunrise to sunset. Non-Muslim students were sponsored by local businesses to fast, with the proceeds going toward providing warm meals, blankets and other necessities to homeless people this Sunday in downtown Los Angeles.

Each fall, Muslims fast during the month of Ramadan to practice values such as self-restraint.

In addition to their desire to help feed the homeless, some students described their interest in other religions as their reason behind fasting for a day.

Joey Bryars, a second-year undeclared student, said he learned about the Fast-a-thon in his Introduction to Islam class and thought it would give him a good perspective on the religion.

“I think many misconceptions exist regarding the Islam religion. ... The only way to understand a religion is to discover it for yourself,” he said.

At the end of his day of fasting, Bryars said he had more respect for the Muslim community’s ability to fast every day for a month.

The hungry student participants gathered in Bruin Plaza around 6 p.m. and patiently awaited their first meal of the day while two speakers and members MSA commended their efforts.

Karume James, a UCLA alumnus and former officer of UCLA’s Afrikan Student Union, spoke about the tragic homeless situation in Los Angeles.

“Los Angeles is in the midst of a massive housing crisis. ... Every night more than 80,000 people reside on the streets,” he said.

The amount of homeless individuals living in “one of the wealthiest cities of the wealthiest nation” in the world is an atrocity, he said.

Members of MSA said they are attempting to ease this problem by bringing together students from different communities with the Fast-a-thon.

“It’s really a beautiful feeling to see the UCLA community come together for this cause,” said Sabiha Ameen, president of MSA, as she surveyed the diverse group of participants.

“We feel proud and honored to help other communities in need,” she said.

Participants broke their fast with dates, which were consumed the moment they appeared on the participants’ tables.

With only a few minutes left until dinner, Ahmed Shama, former MSA president, spoke with the participants about the holy month of Ramadan.

He stressed the importance of practicing self-restraint and commended the fasters for helping the poor during their day of fasting.

“In society, you are showing self-restraint toward the poor, by not wanting to usurp their resources,” he said.

As students waited anxiously in line for their dinner, they expressed various reactions to a day without food.

“It was kind of intense,” said second-year student Derrek Hibar, a first-time faster. “There were two points in the day when I felt like I wanted to give up ... but I stuck through it.”

He said a day without food was difficult, but it put his living situation into perspective.

“I realized that food is something that not everyone has. ... People go without food for much longer than a day,” he said.

Though MSA has been sponsoring a Fast-a-thon at UCLA for years, this year marks the first in which students from other campuses in California are participating as well.