TRAVERSE CITY -- Walkers are stretching and warming up and asking for donations.
It's CROP Hunger Walk season. CROP walks are locally organized fundraising efforts to earn money for both overseas and local people. The events are under the umbrella of the Church World Service.
Local groups have the option of earmarking 25 percent of the money raised to stay in their own communities, which is what the Leelanau County workers have chosen to do.
In this, the 20th year of the Leelanau walk, the money will be given to the Leelanau Christian Neighbors, the local food pantry, said Gene Fontaine, of Suttons Bay, one of the event's organizers.
The Leelanau County CROP Hunger Walk is scheduled for Sept. 27. Last year, 16 groups and more than 175 walkers raised $16,000, Fontaine said. Last year's organizer, the Rev. Pam Fulton, died in May; this year's walk is dedicated to her, with her granddaughter, Kristine Hansen, a student at Leland High School, helping lead the walk.
The 3.8-mile walk will begin at the Presbyterian Church in Omena at 1:30 p.m. for registration, prayer and singing, with the walk beginning at 2 p.m.
For more information on Leelanau County's walk, call Gene or Mary Pat Fontaine at 271-3110.
CROP began as an acronym for Christian Rural Overseas Program but has now evolved to mean Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty. The walks are nondemonational and interfaith, but usually organized by a church or group of churches. A little more than 16 percent of the money raised goes back to the Church World Service for administration. Money sent overseas is used for projects ranging from seeds to tools to wells and microloans.
"Michigan is the leading Hunger Walk region in the U.S.," said the Rev. Chip Roush, organizer of the Oct. 11 CROP walk in Traverse City.
He said last year's Traverse City walk raised more than $17,000; the most the Traverse City walk has raised was more than $40,000 in 2004, he said.
More than 2,000 communities in the U.S. sponsor walks, according to the Church World Service, with more than 5 million participants in the last 20 years.
The Oct. 11 Traverse City walk will be held at the Grand Traverse County Civic Center, with registration at 1:30 p.m. and the walk at 2 p.m. There's a challenge match of $25 for every new walker (up to $2,500). Call Roush for more information on walking or sponsoring a walker, 709-0032, or e-mail him at jchipr@yahoo.com.
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