Ian Roberts, back left, chairman of this year's Mount Vernon/VIC CROP Hunger Walk on May 6, checks out this year's CROP T-shirts with young people from St. Aidan's Episcopal Church, 8531 Riverside Road, Alexandria, site of this year's walk. Wynne Kelch, back right, a St. Aidan's Walk captain and pictured with her husband Greg, helps rally all of the Mount Vernon walkers for major fundraising support.
“Because they walk, we walk” is the theme of the 32nd annual Church World Services CROP Hunger Walk on May 6. Sponsored by area churches through Ventures in Community (VIC) and starting at St. Aidan’s Episcopal Church, 8531 Riverside Road, Alexandria, the CROP Walk winds through the local community for 1.5 miles. Registration begins at 12:30 at St. Aidan’s, and the Walk begins at 1:30.
“Everyone is invited to participate in the CROP Walk which raises funds to end hunger at home and around the world,” according to St. Aidan’s Walk captains Eric Stewart and Wynne Kelch. Twenty-five percent of the funds raised stay in this community, assisting UCM and New Hope Housing and other local hunger-fighting initiatives. “The rest goes to countries where people have to walk miles a day to get their food, water, fuel or medical care,” said Stewart.
Walkers on May 6 will return to St. Aidan’s for a celebration with music, snacks and juices available for a donation, and T-shirts, hats, and plants for sale. Last year’s Mount Vernon CROP Walk gleaned $18,000 for the cause.
Sponsor forms for walkers are available at local churches. Funds can be raised by walking with sponsors, by sponsoring someone else, by sponsoring work on-site on May 6, or by on-line gift giving at www.cropwalkonline.org , ref: Mt. Vernon Walk.
The CROP Walk is a program of Church World Services, an interfaith response to disasters around the world since 1947.