Saturday, November 24, 2007

Man Gulps Down Feast to Support Hungry

It was a Thanksgiving meal for 10, but Tim Janus devoured it alone in just 15 minutes as part of a public relations stunt to draw attention to New York City's hungry.

"What's so important about today is that it begins to fill my stomach up and I can now leave a little more for everybody else," Janus said after consuming a 10-pound turkey, four pounds of mashed potatoes, three pounds of cranberry sauce and 2 1/2 pounds of beans.

And he still had room for dessert: an entire pumpkin pie.

Janus - a Major League Eater champion who holds world titles in cannolis, marshmallow Peeps and tiramisu - said the league was donating $6,000 to the Food Bank for New York City - a sum that will provide 30,000 meals. Last week, the league gave $4,000 to Second Harvest food bank.

According to the Food Bank for New York City Web site, 1.3 million New Yorkers currently turn to food pantries and soup kitchens to keep from going hungry, a 24 percent rise from 2004.

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