Surman, David is also currently the CEO of the Hungry for Hope Foundation. The Hungry for Hope foundation, is a charitable non-profit organization dedicated to helping those in need, whether it be by raising money for researching cures to life threatening diseases or raising funds to help victims of natural and/or manmade disasters, the Hungry for Hope Foundation is not dedicated to any single cha
rity but can assume the role of assisting any people or group in need. What is the Hunger room? The 'Hunger Room', as it has come to be called, is a 7 X 14 foot trailer modified with 4 glass walls and a minimal amount of fixtures and comforts to allow 1 occupant to live in for short periods of time. Because it is mobile it can be transported and set up literally anywhere and because it is see through, people will be able to see that the occupant is in fact fasting. What is it for? It was designed as a unique means for collecting donation for various charities, benefits, and/or relief funds dedicated to the study of cures for diseases and helping those in need. How does it work? A single occupant will live inside it for periods lasting a week or maybe longer. Locked inside he will fast, consuming nothing but water for the duration of his stay while raising hope (donations) for various organizations, relief funds, and other causes that better the condition of those in need. this of course would be set up in a public place Where there are lots of people to see that the occupant is in fact
fasting. So why fast to raise funds? In the past I have done volunteer work for the Winnipeg Harvest who helps those who have trouble providing for themselves and their families, the original idea was that as I fast for a week (at least) and as others see me, if they decide to participate they can fast for one single meal in that week and using the money that would have paid for that meal for a donation with nearly a million people in Winnipeg, we could raise a lot of hope for those in need. So would you raise money just for the Winnipeg Harvest? No, the idea has grown, I’ve realized that the potential of the idea could benefit so many more than just 1 organization, we’ve also decided to support muscular dystrophy Canada, Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, Cystic Fibrosis Canada and the Salvation Army, We would also like to help with relief efforts geared towards assisting communities and people who have been devastated by manmade and/or natural disasters. How did you come up with this idea? Actually I came up with it while fasting, I have had some experience with fasting, as a teen I did the '30 hour famine' twice in school, years later I did a 7.5 day fast, and more recently, I did a 15 day fast, ingesting nothing but water, and the idea hit me with such force that I could not ignore it, even if I had wanted to. So as I have experience with fasting, I decided I was the perfect person to undertake this project. When will you start fundraising in it? I’m hoping to set up in spring 2012, possibly earlier, for our first fundraising event, until then I want to spread the word and make it known. How often will you be fundraising? We hope once a year at least to start with, we would like to start a week long fundraising event june 1st as that is the International Hunger Awareness Day, June is also my birth month and what better way to celebrate my birthday than by doing what I love, helping others. The official start time and date would be June 1st 12:00 pm and ending 7 days later June 8th 12:00pm. What will your fundraising event be called? This was hard to come up with but I wanted something simple that conveyed to people what it was about so I settled on "Fast168 for Hope", 168 being the amount of hours in a week. Can I donate to your cause? Not yet we are in the process of applying for a charity license until we are granted one we cannot legally accept donations of any kind, once we have the license, donations can be made through the PayPal link. For right now, we are
acting as a proxy for various organizations as we attempt to become more established within the community.
