This fall, tens of thousands of people in communities across the United States will be doing something Americans usually do for recreation or exercise: They’ll be walking miles and miles through the streets of their communities to raise money to fund the domestic and international poverty and hunger relief efforts of Church World Service, the relief, development, and refugee assistance ministry of 36 Protestant, Orthodox, and Anglican denominations in the United States.

The event is called CROP WALK. More than $150 million has been raised by CROP WALKS in the past 10 years to help the Church World Service to fund its poverty- and hunger-fighting activities in some 80 countries.

Close to home, CROP WALKS help feed local families who might otherwise go hungry by helping to fund local hunger-fighting initiatives such as food pantries and soup kitchens in towns and cities across the nation.

According to a 2003 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 11.2 percent of U.S. households at some time during the year did not have access to "enough food for an active, healthy life for all household members." There are many reasons that people end up not having enough food to keep from going to bed hungry. Poverty, failed crops, loss of jobs, and natural or human-caused disasters are just a few of them.

The Emmitsburg Council of Churches will host a CROP WALK on Sunday, October 23 at 1:00 p.m. Walkers will meet (rain or shine) at Emmitsburg Memorial Park located behind the post office. Last year, seven Emmitsburg churches and 55 walkers participated in the CROP WALK raising a total of $5,170.76 and 25% of that money was donated to the Emmitsburg Food Bank.

The Thurmont Ministerium, in cooperation with the Graceham Moravian Church Elementary Youth Group, will host a WALK FOR HUNGER AND HUMAN NEEDS on Sunday, November 6th beginning at 1:30 p.m. The walk begins and ends at the Thurmont Senior Center on East Main Street in Thurmont. A total of 50% of this walk will be donated to the Thurmont Food Bank and 50% will be donated to the Thurmont Ministerium. The walk will take three stops: Weller United Methodist Church, Thurmont Evangelical Bible Church and the home of Mrs. Beulah Zentz.

These walks provide much more than just fundraising — they are a way of building community among people of different cultures and faiths while participants help to solve big problems through small, individual efforts.