SUNDERLAND — Church World Service sponsors CROP Hunger Walks organized by local congregations or groups to raise money to help combat hunger.
One of those walks will take place in Franklin County on Sunday, when people convene at the First Congregational Church of Sunderland ready to stomp out food insecurity. According to information online, the walk starts around 2 p.m. There are reportedly 1½-mile and 5½-mile options. People wishing to participate can register online at bit.ly/2MA6kwm or at the church at 1 p.m. the day of the event.
Sunderland resident Jennifer Unkles said she and her 12-year-old son, Thomas, are walking as part of Team Sunderland Congregational, having previously taken part in a CROP Hunger Walk at a Hampshire County church.
“We want to help try to put an end to hunger,” she said, adding that the statistics about hunger, especially locally, are shocking. “We’re going to get lucky with the weather. It’s going to be a beautiful day and it’s a beautiful time of year, in a beautiful town.”
Anyone interested in pledging money to Team Sunderland Congregational’s efforts can visit bit.ly/3234BWY.
According to crophungerwalk.org, 1,000 people in Bismarck, N.D., participated in what may have been the first hunger walk related to CROP on Oct. 17, 1969, and raised $25,000 in the process.
It is believed the first official CROP walk took place in Pennsylvania’s York County, and that event has been held every year since 1970. There are now more than 1,000 communities in more than 800 CROP Hunger Walks in the United States each year. More than five million CROP Hunger Walkers have participated in more than 36,000 walks in the past two decades.
CROP stood for Christian Rural Overseas Program when it began in 1947, under the wing of Church World Service, which was founded the year prior.
“Today, we’ve outgrown the acronym but we retain it as the historic name of the program,” the website reads.
Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or 413-772-0261, ext. 262.