Please support the 2024 CROP Walk here in Manchester

submitted by Anita Herman

CROP Hunger Walks are community-wide events sponsored by Church World Service (CWS) and organized by local congregations and groups to raise funds to reduce hunger at home and around the world. CROP Hunger Walks began in 1969, 55 years ago. The Manchester Area CROP Walk has been held every year since 1995 — 29 years; local contributors have raised more than $156,000 for this important charity. Our goal this year will be to raise $5,500. 

Help us end hunger. Support this cause in Manchester by contributing and/or walking around our community on October 6, 1:30–3pm. Our walk will start at the Manchester United Methodist Church, 501 Ann Arbor St; registration begins at 1pm. Both one- and three-mile routes will be outlined. Pets on leashes are welcome to join the Walk. Rocking chairs will be available for elders who want to “rock their mile.”

Not available to walk on Sunday, October 6? Donate to this important CROP Walk online by visiting crophungerwalk.org and typing Manchester Area in the search box, or scanning the QR code. For more information contact Anita Herman at (734) 945-5663.

Twenty-five percent of the funds raised by the local CROP Hunger Walk stay here and support programs run by the Community Resource Center, Manchester Family Services, and the Manchester Area Senior Citizens Council. Funds from previous CROP Hunger Walks also went to help the people hurt in the recent hurricanes. Please support your neighbors in Manchester, in the U.S., and around the world who rely on food-assistance programs.

CROP stands for Christian Rural Overseas Program, which was started as an agency for Christian World Services in 1946 to help starving countries in Europe after World War II. Manchester Area organized its first CROP Walk in 1995 under the leadership of Laura Sutton with 182 walkers raising $9,040 that year. Last year 39 walkers raised $4,581.

For nearly half a century, CROP Hunger Walks have ensured that more people worldwide have access to nutritious, sustainable food sources. From combatting droughts in Nicaragua to providing agricultural training in Indonesia to stocking shelves in hundreds of food pantries across the United States, CROP Hunger Walks help end hunger by raising funds to support local food programs and the international anti-hunger work of Church World Service.

2023 CROP Walk. Photo courtesy of Lon Nordeen.

Photo courtesy of Lon Nordeen.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.