For Drew Beaubian, 17, of Malverne, the hunger banquet drove home the situation of the homeless.

“It was really eye opening,” she said. “We’re all so caught up in our own world and we sometimes think our situation is the worst, and it really isn’t.”

Beaubian said that for her Advanced Placement Government project at school, she would be required to write a letter to someone in charge about a relevant issue and that her night at the hunger banquet persuaded her to write about the plight of the homeless.

Beaubian, a member of Our Lady of Lourdes youth ministry, said that she was split into the lowest income bracket when food was given out.

“It’s really sad,” Beaubian explained. “I get more food than that every day, and to think that for some people, that’s their only food — it’s just really sad.”