Annual CROP Hunger Walk downtown Sunday

In an effort to help fight hunger close to home as well as around the world, the annual Jasper County CROP Hunger Walk will take place once again Sunday.

Beginning at 2 p.m., walkers will gather on the courthouse lawn before heading down First Avenue for the walk which will finish up at the Salvation Army.

Churches county wide have been raising money in the previous months for the event which raised $6,400 last year. Twenty-five percent of what is raised will remain in the county with 15 percent going to the Newton Salvation Army and the remaining 10 percent split between the food pantries in Baxter, Colfax, Kellogg and Prairie City.

“They (the churches) are either gathering a collection or giving a donation or walkers will be getting pledges,” First Christian Church member Carol Macksey said.

CROP Hunger Walks are community-wide events sponsored by Church World Service and organized by local congregations or groups to raise funds to end hunger at home and around the world. Originally started in 1969, they are called the granddaddy of charity walks.

The first official walk occurred in York County, Penn. with hundreds of communities following. Currently, more than 2,000 communities across the U.S. join in more than 1,300 CROP Hunger Walks each year. More than five million CROP Hunger Walkers have participated in more than 36,000 CROP Hunger Walks in the last two decades alone.

CROP, which stands for Christian Rural Overseas Program, is a branch of the Church World Service and was founded in 1947. Its primary mission was to help Midwest farm families share their grain with hungry neighbors in post-World War II Europe and Asia.

Today, CROP Hunger Walks are interfaith hunger education and fundraising events. Money from the walks help support grassroots, hunger-fighting development efforts around the world by providing food and water, as well as resources that empower people to meet their own needs. From seeds and tools, to wells and water systems, to technical training and micro-enterprise loans, the key is people working together to identify their own development priorities, their strengths and their needs.

Those wanting to participate in the walk must be 18 or have a permission slip signed by a parent or guardian. Registration is available the day of the walk as well.

For more information contact Carol Macksey at 641-521-9228 or Terry Townsend at townsend@pcpartner.net