2007 Crop Walk article in the Centre Daily Times

Wednesday, Apr. 16, 2008
Local CROP Walk grows with record funds in 2007
Editor’s note: The Centre County Council for Human Services Inc. has been working for the past 36 years to help human service agencies serve those in need. It includes 90 agencies and individual members and serves people from birth to death.


Barbara Faulkner Helping Hands
What if every night on the evening news, you heard an announcement that 10,000 people around the world died that day from hunger and malnutrition? Because that is an unfortunate daily occurrence, how many days in a row would you have to hear this same disturbing statistic before you hit the mute button? Or would it make you stand up and say, “Somebody ought to do something about this”?

Well, somebody has. Each year in State College and around the U. S., there are CROP Walks to raise

money to alleviate hunger. You could start planning now to collect sponsors and walk in the 5K 2008 State College CROP Walk on Oct. 19 at 2 p.m. at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. The route will wind through campus before returning to St. Andrew’s.

CROP is an acronym for Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty.

“CROP is the first to arrive at a disaster scene and the last to leave,” said John Mc- Cullough, the executive director of Church World Service, of which CROP is an arm.

Advertisement“We bring in blankets and food to a catastrophe and stay for the long haul, helping people help themselves by attacking the root causes of hunger through agricultural development programs.”

These programs include digging wells for drinking and irrigation, providing mules for plowing and better seeds for planting, opening schools, training teachers and providing capital to start community banks run by the people.

CROP Walks began in 1970 in York. State College organized its first walk in 1984 and has since raised more than $307,700. Twenty-five percent of our total each year goes to the State College Food Bank. We have no overhead expenses. We don’t give out T-shirts or prizes to walkers, and our refreshments are all donated.

Two hundred and thirty walkers helped the 2007 State College CROP Walk set a new record of $22,700. This is an increase of 49 percent from the 2006 results. The State College Food Bank received $5,674.00, which was especially needed in a year when federal grants were cut.

Congregations with significant contributions included St. Paul’s Methodist, Grace Lutheran, St. John’s United Church of Christ, University Baptist and Brethren, Faith United Church of Christ, St. Andrew’s Episcopal, State College Presbyterian Church, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Centre County, Friends Meeting, Upper Spruce Creek Presbyterian Church and Woodycrest United Methodist.

Other organizations providing support were Troop 32 Boy Scouts of America, Fox-dale Village Retirement Community, State College Friends School, State College Area High School Key Club and volleyball team, Nittany Nomads, Penn State Women in Business, Gamma Sigma Sigma and Kappa Omicron Nu sororities and the State College Food Bank.

For more information contact Church World Service at 888- 297-2767 or visit www.cropwalk.org.

For local information, contact Barbara Faulkner at 238-8695 or babs1649@juno.com,

or the State College Food Bank at 234-2310.