Together they walk to end hunger
By Melissa Muntz Community Reporter

Shrewsbury - Walking six miles once a year to raise money for impoverished nations may seem like a quite a distance, but it pales in comparison to the average six-mile round trip the people of these nations must walk every day just to get the food and water they need to survive, Shrewsbury CROP Walk Co-Chair Janet Trippi said.

"We walk because they walk," Trippi said.

Trippi and Barbara Van Iwegen are organizing the Oct. 21 CROP Walk to end hunger both here and abroad. Of the funds raised, 25 percent will be donated to St. Anne's Food Pantry and the remaining funds will be used to purchase farming tools and equipment, seeds and materials to build wells so that people in developing nations can provide the food and water they need in their own backyards.

"We are so fortunate here," Trippi said. "It's our obligation, our right and our blessing to share with the rest of the world."

The CROP Walk will begin at the First Congregational Church on the Common and will take several routes, depending on what the participants are capable of.

Involvement ranges from the Shrewsbury High School track team, which will run a six-mile route to three older women who will spend two hours in rocking chairs located inside the church.

Organizers said that all are welcome to the event, which takes place rain or shine.

"After you've walked six miles in the heat or in the rain, it becomes a little easier to imagine what it's like to do that every day, every single day," Trippi said.

The walk will include several rest stops along the way for participants to use the restroom and get a drink of water. It's a few of the many luxuries that people who must walk every day for food and water live without.

"These people have to walk for every drop of water and every piece of food and they're not walking on streets and sidewalks," Van Iwegen said. "They're walking on dirty, rocky roads in bare feet."

Registration for the event is ongoing until the walk begins at 12:15 p.m. A kick-off to the event starts at the church at 11:30 a.m., and the walk will be followed by an ice cream social.

People who would like to contribute but are unable to attend the walk can send donations earmarked for the CROP Walk to the First Congregational Church or can make an online donation at www.cropwalk.org. Donations of water bottles, apples, lunch items and desserts are also welcome on Sunday and can be dropped off at the church prior to the event.