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October 19, 2008
October 2007:
CROP WALK WEAVES A SAFETY-NET FOR THE HUNGRY
By Roger Heimer, Coordinator, Bloomington-Monroe County CROP Hunger Walk
The CROP Walk on Sunday,
October 21 is a living, human network of sponsored walkers who raise money to
end hunger as they journey between our primary local food agencies. The Hoosier
Hills Food Bank, Monroe County United Ministries, Community Kitchen, Mother
Hubbard’s Cupboard and the Shalom Center will receive grants representing 25% of
the Walk proceeds while 75% of the funds raised will be sent to food and
development projects in war-ravaged areas like Darfur, or to rebuild following
earthquakes and floods or to other places where food and safe drinking water are
lacking.
The CROP Walk (CROP standing for Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty)
seeks to strike at the root causes of hunger especially overseas, just as other
walks aim at specific diseases through research and education. CROP-related
overseas projects drill wells and send food shipments. They also enable
refugees to organize themselves into new communities. In the U.S. supporters
are given information to help them advocate for generous and effective
international aid programs.
Our decades-old motto, “We Walk Because They Walk,” is in response to the women
in developing countries who still walk an average 3.6 miles each day to secure
water and to carry it home. The Bloomington walk is approximately six miles
long, and the 5 hunger-related agencies will each provide their hospitality with
water or refreshments. Participants are asked to remember the women who fetch
water for their households and to remember the two million children who die each
year from infections spread by dirty water and lack of access to decent
sanitation.
Here in Bloomington the typical participant in the CROP Hunger Walk is an active
church member who comes with a group organized within his or her congregation.
Some education about hunger before the walk may be followed by a reflection on
the experience after the event. Together, adults or children ask, “How can we
continue to help make this a less hungry world?”
To participate in the Walk: first ask at your church or religious institution.
If they don’t have a plan for recruiting walkers, you may offer to put your own
walk team together for them. For full information call Walk coordinator,
Roger Heimer at 333-5664. Get a kit for your group and begin asking your
friends and neighbors for donations to sponsor you and to “Help CROP Stop
Hunger”.
Any of the hunger-fighting agencies can help you connect: Hoosier Hills Food
Bank, Community Kitchen, Shalom, Mother Hubbard’s Cupboard, and Monroe County
United Ministries.
Business sponsorship is welcomed.
Starting from Monroe County United Ministries at 2 P.M. on
October 21, The CROP Hunger Walk becomes a visible network of caring people
within the Bloomington safety-net.
http://cwscrop.org/indianakentucky/crop.html
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