Texas County’s annual CROP Walk against hunger will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 28, at Houston United Methodist Church.
Registration begins at 1:30 p.m., and walkers may follow one-mile or three-mile courses marked by signs and arrows on Houston streets. Maps of the route will be available. There will be a water station en route, and refreshments will be served as the walkers return to the church.
CROP is an acronym for Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty. It is a wing of Church World Service, an ecumenical organization founded in 1946. The ministry’s goals are to provide self-help development, disaster relief and refugee assistance in more than 80 countries.
Walkers receive a pledge envelope and are asked to solicit sponsors for donations to CROP. They bring the donations with them on the day of the walk. One-fourth of the monies collected remains in the community, helping the Texas County Food Pantry and the United Community Help Center of Licking. The remaining funds are used by Church World Service around the world to help combat hunger and poverty.
Children and youth are welcome to walk. The only wheeled vehicles permitted on a CROP Walk are strollers and wagons.
To obtain a walker pledge envelope, contact Alice Wells at 417-967-2495. Residents in the Licking area are asked to contact Dora Meier at 573-674-3411, or they may pick up pledge envelopes at the Licking United Community Help Center.