CROP Walkers fund relief, wells

Walkers from 14 area churches walk to raise money for both local needs and worldwide relief aid.

At Spokane’s 38th annual Hunger Walk on Sunday, April 26, a group of 79 walkers from 14 congregations heard from Church World Service/CROP Walk regional coordinator Amber Blake that Church World Service (CWS) was already present and providing help in Nepal, following the earthquake the day before.

Funds from previous CROP Walks were already at work there.  Along with providing relief aid in such disasters, funds walkers have raised have helped to “halve extreme poverty since 2010, a U.N. Millennium Development Goal that was not anticipated to be reached until 2015,” she said.

Amber praised Spokane walkers, because in the past two decades alone, they have raised close to $700,000, ranking the Spokane CROP Hunger Walk as one of the top three in the Pacific Northwest. 

This year, the group raised $7,336 as of the day of the walk.

She said that when recipients of aid and programs ask CWS staff in their countries about whom they can thank, the staff usually show pictures of CROP walkers.  Many are at first puzzled about why the people in the United States are walking.  They are told that the CROP walkers walk because the people in the community receiving help walk to draw and haul water.

Last year, 25 percent of the $12,000 raised in the Spokane CROP Walk was shared locally with Greater Spokane Meals on Wheels and Family Promise.  Pam Almeida of Greater Spokane Meals on Wheels said the amount they received went toward 260,000 meals served in Spokane County this year.

Susan Heitstumen of Family Promise said funds they received helped feed families sheltered in churches, noting that over the last seven years, 82 percent of those housed by Family Promise have found sustained, permanent housing.

For information, call 503-468-6220 or email ablake@cwsglobal.org, or locally contact organizer Randy Goss 468-4099 or email goss301@gmail.com.




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