Despite the wind and sleeping in cardboard boxes beside the cemetery, the youth at Antioch Baptist Church found out Friday night what it’s like to live like a homeless person. For 30 hours, in order to raise money and awareness about hunger, the teens also went without food.

On Friday, 15 teenagers and two adults embarked on a journey — a 30-hour famine to raise money for World Vision as a mission “trip” at their own church.

David Gantt, the minister of youth and education, wanted to teach the kids to appreciate not only what they do have, but what others do not. To make the experience even a little more realistic, the teens built a cardboard village in the parking lot at the church.

The kids got pretty creative with their shacks. Sarah Grace and Hannah Bowman built a two-story shack. Eddie Johnson built an elaborate shack last year, when the teens were inside the church’s fellowship hall due to weather, but this year, he decided to sleep under the stars.

Last year, the group raised $2,100, but Gantt set the goal this year at $3,600. As the group started building their cardboard houses, only about $2,200 of that goal had been raised.

“It helps you relate to all of the kids who are starving, and they have to go through it every day. It makes you realize what it’s like to sleep in a cardboard box every night. This experience is definitely going to help me appreciate the things I have more knowing what goes on in the real world,” Johnson said.

The group held a car wash Saturday morning and raised an additional $357. Gantt said the message of being homeless really hit home when the kids had to work outside after sleeping outside and going without food. The teens were allowed water, Gatorade and fruit juices to avoid dehydration.

World Vision is a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families and their communities worldwide to reach their full potential by tackling the causes of poverty and injustice, according to its Web site.

Gantt said 100 percent of the money raised at the church will go to the organization, which not only helps feed the hungry, but builds doctor’s offices and schools throughout the world. He said the money the church gives toward food will be multiplied five times by the organization through grant money.

He said 26,000 children under the age of 5 die every day because of preventable causes like hunger, poverty and disease.

“World-wide, one in seven people go without enough to eat every day,” he said. “One dollar a day will feed a child for a whole day. Eating out with your friends or going to the movies will run you $30, that’s enough to feed one child for a whole month.”

The group is still taking donations hoping to make its $3,600 goal. Donations can be made out to “World Vision” and mailed to Antioch Baptist Church, c/o Antioch Youth, 137 Antioch Ave., Mount Airy, NC 27030.

Contact Mondee Tilley at mtilley@mtairynews.com or at 719-1930.