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| CROP Walk |
 Help Stop Hunger Around the World and Right Here in Arlington
We raised over $3,000 for Arlington's CROP Walk 2009. On a cold, rainy day seven walkers went the distance.
For more information, contact Kenn Speicher.
How serious is world hunger?
More than 854 million people go to bed hungry every night. They are people just like you. But because of problems like poverty, war, and natural disasters, they face severe food shortages.
The motto of CROP Hunger Walks is: “We walk because they walk.” That’s because the majority of the world’s poor and hungry must walk to accomplish the most basic tasks.
They walk for food.
They walk for water.
They walk for firewood.
They walk to escape violence.
They walk to seek shelter.
They walk to farm their fields.
They walk to find employment.
They walk to go to school.
Every day, millions of people walk just to survive. So when you walk in a CROP Hunger Walk, you walk with the world.
 What is a CROP Hunger Walk?
CROP stands for Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty. CROP Hunger Walks are ecumenical, inter-faith events that raise funds to support the hunger-fighting work of Church World Service (CWS), an international relief, development, and refugee resettlement agency.
Last year, CROP Hunger Walks raised more than $15 million nationwide. More than $46,000 was raised here in Arlington.
How does the Arlington CROP Walk work?
Arlington's CROP Walk is always in October. The walk is a fun 10K trek through Arlington, beginning and ending at Arlington Forest UMC. We usually meet at 8:30 am at Arlington Forest UMC for a briefing and safety instructions.
Walkers make their way to the first checkpoint at St. George’s Episcopal Church in Clarendon, where snacks and beverages will be available. The next checkpoint is Trinity Episcopal Church on Columbia Pike. Walkers then return to Arlington Forest UMC.
How can you participate in the CROP Walk?
There are several ways to participate.
- Walk the 10K route as one of our “hunger hikers.”
- Sponsor a Walker with a generous donation.
- Be a Spirit Walker, raising funds though you are unable to walk.
- Learn more about solving the problems of hunger and poverty.
How do Walkers raise funds to stop hunger?
Each Walker asks friends, neighbors, and co-workers to sponsor them by making a donation. Walkers can ask in person or online. CWS make it easy to create your own personal giving page, where your sponsors can make donations with their credit cards. Go to www.cropwalkonline.org for more information.
Who are our Walkers?
Everyone! The CROP Walk is for kids and teens. Singles. Parents. Grandparents. Walk the whole course or as far as you are able. If you are unable to walk, we invite you to be a sponsor or a Spirit Walker. And we ask everyone to pray for the CROP Hunger Walk and for the poor and hungry.
When did CROP begin?
CROP began in 1947 under the wing of Church World Service, which was founded in 1946. Originally, CROP was an acronym for the Christian Rural Overseas Program. Its primary mission was to help Midwest farm families share their grain with hungry neighbors in post-World War II Europe and Asia.
Today CROP stands for Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty, reflecting a program that has been both urban and rural for several decades. This initiative encompasses interfaith hunger education and fundraising events sponsored by CWS and organized by CWS/CROP regional offices across the U.S.
How long has Mount Olivet been walking?
Mount Olivet has had a team in the Arlington CROP Hunger Walk since it began in the 1980s. Dorothy Clark, one of our members, was one of the early organizers of this great effort.
When was the first CROP Hunger Walk?
On October 17, 1969, a thousand people in Bismarck, ND, walked in what may have been the first-ever CROP Hunger Walk. They raised $25,000 to help stop hunger. Several more occurred soon after. Before long, there were hundreds of CROP Hunger Walks each year in communities nationwide.
How many CROP Hunger Walks are there?
Each year, some 2,000 communities across the U.S. sponsor CROP Hunger Walks. More than five million CROP Hunger Walkers have participated in more than 36,000 CROP Hunger Walks in the last two decades alone.
Where do CROP Hunger Walk funds go?
CROP Hunger Walks help to support the overall ministry of Church World Service, especially the grassroots, hunger-fighting development efforts of partner agencies in some 80 countries. CROP Hunger Walks help provide tools of hope that empower people to meet their own needs.
From seeds and tools, to wells and water systems, to technical training and micro-enterprise loans, the key is people working together to identify their own development priorities, their strengths and their needs – something CWS has learned through decades of working in partnership around the world.
Each local CROP Hunger Walk can choose to return up to 25 percent of the funds it raises to local hunger-fighting programs.
How do CROP Hunger Walks help out here at home?
This year, CROP Hunger Walks will share more than $3.7 million with food banks, pantries, community gardens, and other local efforts nationwide. Of the funds raised in the Arlington Crop Walk, 25% goes to the Arlington Food Assistance Center (www.afacinfo.org), which provides supplemental groceries to families in need in our community.
What else makes CROP Hunger Walks special?
Because CROP Hunger Walks are ecumenical, interfaith, multi-cultural events, individual donors can designate their gifts to other approved international hunger-fighting agencies. This option is unique to CROP events, and available for individual sponsors only. Gifts not so designated support the worldwide ministry of CWS.
What is Church World Service?
CWS is a cooperative ministry of 35 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations, providing sustainable self-help and development, disaster relief, and refugee assistance in some 80 countries.
Within the U.S., CWS assists communities in responding to disasters, resettles refugees, promotes fair national and international policies, provides educational resources, and offers opportunities to join a people-to-people network of local and global caring through participation in programs like CROP Hunger Walks.
How much of each dollar contributed goes toward overhead?
Over the last five years, on average just over 16.4% of the funds contributed to CWS has gone to management, fund raising, and information sharing.
We’ll see you at the CROP Walk!
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