CROP events were begun almost 60 years ago, with the collection and shipping of grain contributed by Midwest farmers--central to Church World Service's work in helping to feed starving people in devastated post-World War II Europe and Asia. Today CROP Hunger Walks are the only events that raise awareness and funds to address both international and local needs.
In 2005, some 2,000 communities across the country participated in CROP Walks. Over the past 20 years, CROP Hunger Walkers have raised more than $270 million.
Up to 25 percent of what each CROP Hunger Walk raises helps stock food pantries that provide emergency assistance to families in need in that local area. The balance is used to help the relief, development, and refugee assistance agency in its efforts to eradicate hunger and poverty around the world.
The interfaith effort attracts thousands of volunteers from local churches, synagogues, and mosques who walk--or are pushed in wheelchairs or baby carriages--to raise awareness and funds to help end hunger locally and globally.
Church World Service responds around the world when disaster strikes, but a key focus of CROP Hunger Walks is simple: ending painful, persistent hunger and poverty.
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According to the 2004 United States Department of Agriculture Report "Household Food Security in the United States," 38.2 million Americans live in households that suffer directly from hunger and food insecurity, including nearly 14 million children. And, worldwide more than 850 million people are chronically hungry.
CROP Hunger Walks call us to remember both neighbors a few blocks away and neighbors around the world--from the Indian Ocean tsunami to Pakistan earthquake--in our giving.
Church World Service also provides relief when disasters strike in the United States. The agency is a first-responder in domestic disasters, such as last year's Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. CWS currently is working with Habitat for Humanity to rebuild homes in the Gulf Coast and also has helped to start camps for children and youth-at-risk and organized "care for the caregivers" workshops for clergy and other response personnel in the storm-damaged areas.
The food shelf depends on local contributions to be able to continue in their assisting the local families. Twenty-five percent of all funds raised on the New York Mills Crop Walk go to our New York Mills Food Shelf. Last year the Crop Walk had 108 walkers and raised $6121.31 with $1530 going to the New York Mills Food Shelf.
Interested in being part of -- or starting -- a CROP Hunger Walk in your town? The annual CROP Walk will be held on Oct. 4, beginning at St. Peter's Church in New York Mills, with registration beginning at 5 p.m. Let's see if everyone in the walk could raise $100. There will be prizes awarded -as in the past. Please contact Janet Parta 346-7693 for more information or to register.
