Monroe ready for eighth annual CROP Walk

MONROE-Come rain or shine, many people are gearing up to join in the Eighth Annual Monroe CROP WALK, on Sunday, Oct. 24, Registration will be at 2 p.m. The walk starts at 2:30. The 5-kilometer walk will begin and end at the United Methodist Church of Monroe at 47 Maple Ave. Organized locally, the CROP WALK has set a goal of recruiting 150 walkers and raising $12,000 to help stop hunger here in our community and around the world, through self-help development initiatives. A portion of the funds raised here in Monroe will go to the Monroe Food Pantry, the Monroe Presbyterian Church Food Pantry and the Highland Mills Methodist Church Food Pantry in Woodbury. At last year's Walk in Monroe, about 100 walkers raised $7,000. The Walk's motto is: "We walk because they walk." According to the organizers, "they" are the people of the world who must walk hours each day for food, water, firewood and other essentials. The theme of this year's Walk is refugees. There are 15 million refugees in the world. Another 25 million people are displaced within their own country. "Through CROP Walks, we can help these people find a better life," said Fred Schuepfer, a Monroe organizer of the fund raiser. The Monroe CROP Walk is one of some 2,000 CROP WALKS taking place around the country. These interfaith, community events are sponsored by Church World Service, the relief, development and refugee assistance arm of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the U.S.A. CROPWALKERS are urged to ask family, friends, and co-workers to sponsor them for this event. Sponsor envelopes are available from area congregations such as Monroe Methodist Church and First Presbyterian Church of Monroe. For more information about the Monroe CROP WALK, contact Schuepfer at 782-8386.