I urge students to join the Christian Rural Overseas Program Walk for World Hunger on Sunday at 2 p.m., beginning and ending at the south end of the parking lot in Carson Park.

This seems like a sobering activity after all the exciting events of Homecoming week, but with participation (even though the Packers are playing), students can show to the Eau Claire community their concern for hunger – not only worldwide but here in Eau Claire. It’s a community-wide, ecumenical experience where families and friends of all ages get together to help make us all conscious of ways we can help.

The CROP Walk is principally a fund-raiser in which walkers seek sponsors. Students who have the time and the inclination can stop by the Activities and Programs office in the lower level of Schofield Hall to pick up a walk envelope. In the past, there has been competition between dorms to see who could raise the most money!

The funds are collected by Church World Service, (CWS) an ecumenical organization with partner agencies in 80 countries. It was started 60 years ago in the United States principally to provide food for the hungry. Today it focuses on providing sustainable self-help and development, disaster relief and refugee assistance to people around the world and also here at home.

At www.churchworldservice.org, students can learn more about the work of CWS.

After the tsunami that hit Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and Somalia in 2004, long-term projects are continuing with the reconstruction of homes and rehabilitation of coastal families.

Recovery continues after one year since hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit the United States. Very quickly after the hurricanes hit, CWS supplied blankets, tools, buckets, medicines and recovery kits. Recently, a grant of $3 million from Habitat for Humanity has been donated to CWS for house construction there.

CROP Walks in Eau Claire started in the early ’70s. CROP formed shortly after World War II. A group of farm families in Bismarck, N.D. sent grain by train to ships on the East Coast, headed for war-torn Europe. There had been an abundant harvest of wheat that year in the United States.

Through spontaneous efforts of farmers in other Midwest states and the help of the newly formed CWS, a program of great proportions was launched. By the end of 1948, there were over 2,000 freight cars loaded with gifts of grain, beans, rice and cotton bound for eastern ports.

Shortly thereafter, the CROP name was adopted by CWS to support their relief programs. On Oct. 17, 1969, 1,000 kids from a Lutheran convention, again in Bismarck, walked in the first ever CROP Walk and raised $25,000 to help stop hunger around the world.

Since then, CWS serves as the administrative body for CROP Walks around the country. CWS has 23 regional offices in the United States, with one based in Madison.

Today there are 1,800 Walks nationwide.

Twenty-five percent of the funds raised are returned from CWS for the needs of a local hunger agency. For years, that choice in Eau Claire has been Feed My People Food Bank, which provides food for pantries and other relief agencies in 14 adjacent counties.

The local Walk is organized by church and community leaders. In the last few years, the walk has raised as much as $25,000.

Students who secure donations for their walk from family or friends may bring their envelope to the registration table before the Walk or turn it in to Paula Stuettgen in the Activities and Programs Office in Schofield. She then turns it over to Mary Schoenknecht, treasurer for the Eau Claire CROP Walk, who collates all the donations for transit to the national headquarters of CWS in Elkhart, Ind.

It is truly inspiring when like minds come together for the Walk. By Sunday, the fall color will be at its peak, and the temperature will be perfect for walking. The enthusiasm for the occasion is truly infectious. The theme, “We walk because they walk,” refers to the millions of people in Third World countries who must walk for food, firewood, water and other life essentials. Bicycles or roller blades are not permitted.

This is the 25th anniversary of the CROP Walk in Eau Claire. There are many walks for good causes these days, but none that I am aware of that speak to a community-wide, ecumenical consciousness of hunger needs in the world and here at home. Students are urged to walk if only as a symbolic gesture, with other community members, to promote awareness of these needs. It is an uplifting experience for all who take part.

Students should arrive at the south end of Carson Park and register their participation if they have a walk form with donations shortly after 1:30 p.m. An inspiring message and the sounds of the Chippewa Valley Pipes and Drums will send us off. COME!