Ashley Shaw's thoughts during a lock-in at her church Friday evening kept drifting to one thing.

"I thought about eating," said Ashley, a seventh-grader at North Augusta Middle School who participated in the 30-Hour Famine with about 55 other middle school pupils Friday and Saturday at New Life Christian Center in Augusta.

The pupils ate breakfast Friday but no other meals until after lunch Saturday to gain an appreciation of what millions of people in Third World countries experience.

"We wanted to give the kids a project they could work on that would teach them the other side of reality -- that they are very blessed," said the Rev. Phillip Maxwell, the church's associate pastor and leader of the junior high group, called Contagious.

During the evening, the children were assigned to groups in which they learned about some problems afflicting the Third World.

Lindsey Derrick, a Merriwether Middle School sixth-grader, said she really hadn't thought much about people going hungry, but the night made an impact on her.

Keely Dixon, a sixth-grader at Tutt Middle School, said she would think twice about being wasteful with food.

"There are other people who have nothing," she said.

Before the event, the children made about $3,000. The weekend culminated in a pancake breakfast at the church to raise funds for the hungry. The 30-Hour Famine participants served the breakfast.

The 30-Hour Famine is a youth project of World Vision to combat hunger. Last year, more than 600,000 young people raised more than $11.6 million, according to the World Vision 30-Hour Famine Web site. The money helped children in Kenya, Indonesia, Haiti and the U.S.

Reach Charmain Brackett at czbrackett@hotmail.com.