Tag: CROPWalk

CROPWalk returns to OWU, raises money for the hungry

By: Cuckoo Gupta, Transcript correspondent

 

Photo courtesy of kzoolf.org.
Photo courtesy of kzoolf.org.

Ohio Wesleyan University and the Delaware community came together on Oct. 11 to help raise awareness and funds for hunger.

The Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty (CROP) Walk, is an annual community event created to help support the Church World Service (CWS). CWS helps provide food, water and resources for people in need.

The Community Service Learning Center (CSLC) at OWU organizes CROP Walk. Students walk 3.1 miles with other community members to raise money. Sally Leber, the director of CSLC said that it is one of the larger services and advocacy programs at OWU.

For five years, student participation has dwindled, but this year it saw “more than 250 walkers overall,” and it raised $2,273 in total, according to CSLC and CROP Hunger Walk’s website.

“Students here at OWU have always loved participating in CROP Hunger Walk,” Leber said. “It has grown exponentially this year, many athletic teams, Greek organizations and SLUs represented. Also, other unaffiliated people got involved.”

OWU volleyball team member Brianna La Croix, a sophomore, said, “CROP Walk was a great way to meet new people who care about raising awareness. Crop Hunger Walk was well organized. I am so happy that I was able to volunteer with my teammates and coach, and walk for such an amazing cause.”

Leber was satisfied with the turnout of students and community members. “Everyone enjoyed the weather and each other’s company,” she said. “They all had fun, mingled, as well as gave importance to issues surrounding hunger and food scarcity.”

“I think it is a great cause and something that many students at OWU feel strongly about,” junior Shashank Sharma said.

Junior Khayyam Zubair, a participant at the walk, said, “As a young person I feel it is my responsibility to help bring about change, to actively participate in well being of the world.

CROP Hunger Walk is a way I can do this.”

Currently, over 2,000 communities across the U.S. join in more than 1,300 CROP Hunger Walks each year. More than five million CROP Hunger Walkers have participated in more than 36,000 CROP Hunger Walks in the last two decades alone.