wfn.org | Church World Service Fall CROP Hunger Walks Begin

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

Church World Service Fall CROP Hunger Walks Begin

NEW YORK, Sept. 3, 2008--Humanitarian agency Church World Service 
today announced the opening of its 2008-2009 CROP Hunger Walk season, 
during which hunger activists in some 2,000 communities across the 
nation will begin walking to raise money for the agency's domestic 
and global anti-hunger programs.

"As the United States and the world come to grips with a food crisis 
that has seen supplies dwindle and prices skyrocket, more people than 
ever are finding it difficult to impossible to feed their families, 
and CROP Hunger Walks (www.cropwalk.org) are more important than 
ever," says CWS Executive Director John L. McCullough.

According to U.S. and international reports, more than 862 million 
people in the world go hungry.  In the United States, one in 10 
households--including 11.7 million children--sometimes do not have 
enough food for regular meals and in developing countries 60 percent 
of the preventable childhood deaths are from hunger and malnutrition.

Many factors contribute to hunger in the United States and around the 
world, including a global food crisis fueled by rising food prices, 
lower crop yields as a result of climate change, unemployment and poverty.

CROP Hunger Walks--Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty--are 
unique in that proceeds help to overcome hunger and poverty both 
domestically and internationally.  Internationally, the funds are 
used to support CWS empowerment programs that bring seeds and tools, 
wells and water systems, training, and micro-enterprise programs to 
people struggling to feed their families, develop their communities, 
and rise out of poverty.

In the U.S. this year, CROP Hunger Walks will share more than $3.7 
million with food banks, pantries and community gardens.  This 
support for local efforts is made possible when CROP Hunger Walks opt 
to return up to 25 percent of their CROP Walk proceeds to 
hunger-fighting programs in their own community.

The December 2007 hunger survey of 22 cities by the U.S. Conference 
of Mayors (http://usmayors.org/HHSurvey2007/hhsurvey07.pdf) reports 
that many cities are unable to meet local demand for emergency food 
assistance and that they expect the demand to increase in 2008.

"The hungry people left in the wake of rising food prices, 
unemployment, and poverty desperately need people like the hunger 
activists who participate in Church World Service CROP Hunger 
Walks.  These are the people--from local churches, mosques and 
temples--who are helping us provide emergency food even as we look 
for lasting solutions to the underlying causes of hunger and 
poverty," says McCullough.

To find a CROP Hunger Walk in your area, go to www.cropwalk.org  or 
call 888-297-2767 (888-CWS-CROP).

Church World Service is a global humanitarian agency working through 
an international network of secular and faith organizations to help 
struggling people lift themselves out of poverty with sustainable 
development programs, disaster relief, refugee assistance and social 
justice advocacy.

Media Contacts

Lesley Crosson, (212) 870-2676, lcrosson@churchworldservice.org
Jan Dragin - 24/7 - (781) 925-1526, jdragin@gis.net