Annual Sheboygan area CROP Walk is set for October 18

The annual Sheboygan Area CROP Walk for Hunger will take place Sunday, Oct. 18. Registration begins at 12:30 p.m. at this year’s host First Congregational United Church of Christ at 310 Bluff Ave. in Sheboygan. The walk will begin at 1 p.m. Walkers can choose from a 2.5 and 5 mile mapped route. To obtain pledge forms and join in the walk, contact Joanne D’Alton at 803-0742 or Julia Hollister at First Congregational at 457-4818.

The CROP (Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty) Walk is an annual event by Church World Service that raises funds to fight hunger. Walks take place around the world.

Last year the Sheboygan Area walk included 211 walkers who raised almost $14,350.

Each year a quarter of the money raised stays in the Sheboygan County area. Last year $2,870 was presented to the Sheboygan Food Bank and $718 was given to the Plymouth Food Pantry. The remainder of the funds raised is used globally in 80 countries to empower hunger-stricken people to produce food through sustainable development efforts as well as through direct food donations. Church World Service, which oversees the funds, also uses them to improve living conditions by providing safe drinking water, preventive health services, and other humanitarian aid to some of the world’s poorest populations. The theme for the CROP Walk continues as “We walk because they walk.”

“I’ve been working on the CROP Walk for 12 years locally and over 20 years total,” said Joanne D’Alton, the event’s coordinator. “It’s incredible to see the diversity of participants and humbling to know what their commit-ment means to those in need.”

For more information about this year’s event or for pledge forms, call D’Alton at 803-0742 or e-mail jrd22@charter.net.