A 25 year passion for the hungry
Photo: Pennridge-Perkasie CROP Hunger Walk.
Photo: Rev. Dennis Hartman | The Pennridge-Perkasie, PA, CROP Hunger Walk celebrates its Silver Walk on October 11, 2009. Amazingly, several of the CROP Walk leaders also will be celebrating their 25th year as well. The first Walk in 1984 was ten miles in length through the Bucks County countryside. Two of the original founders are still active in the Pennridge CROP Hunger Walk, Darwin Hendricks who handles logistics and Nancy Lyons who oversees the safety issues for the event. Today, this CROP Hunger Walk involves 22 churches and has raised more than $20,000 annually for the past 23 years. Why have these committed leaders continued for so many years to fight against hunger and poverty, ranking among the top ten CROP Hunger Walks in the Pennsylvania Region year after year? Here are a few thoughts they shared:
Rev. Dennis Hartman, Coordinator: “The CROP Hunger Walk attests to the ecumenism of our faith, a national effort in partnership with our brothers and sisters in 35 denominations. The CROP Hunger Walk reflects the ecumenism of our joint endeavors in the mission field. The 25 percent that is allocated to a grassroots charity is so important and motivating.”
Darwin Hendricks, Logistics: “The CROP Hunger Walk allows you to participate with people you may not know. We challenge people to give and are not afraid to ask for money. It is part of my stewardship for my church and helps the young people to participate in mission.”
Lisa Cadwallader, Recruitment Chairperson: “The children and families can participate together in the CROP Hunger Walk. Even little children can make a difference in the lives of the hungry.”
Genevra Allen, Recruiter: “Mission is the most important work we do at church. Through the CROP Hunger Walk lives are changed. Improving people’s lives for the better, it’s what we are all about.”
Nancy Lyons, Safety: “I think we can hardly pick up a newspaper or watch television and not see areas around the world in which people are really suffering because of drought, lack of food, etc. Every time there is a disaster anywhere in the world, CWS is one of the first agencies there to help people.”
Mai Cole, Walker: Mai Cole knows what it is like to be hungry. For Mai death was all too real. Mai was born in Vietnam; her mother died when she was just two days old and her father died when she was two-and-a-half. She was put in her half-brother’s care and went to the fields with her cousin. The children slept in hay buckets made from bamboo. When her brother married a few years later, she had to work for a neighbor. Mai was five-years-old when she had her first real job. She had to sit and ride the water buffalos and keep them from going into the rice or peanuts. By the time she was ten-years-old, Mai was working in the rice fields. She planted, weeded, and cut rice; she gathered and cut firewood, selling it in the towns and villages, all just to make enough money to survive. At fourteen, her brother offered her as a bride for an older man who beat her repeatedly. When she finally ran away to a neighbor’s house she was sold to a large wealthy family to hand wash the clothing and carry water. Mai had many other sad experiences until she married an American G.I. and left for the United States in 1970. Mai’s thankfulness to God is evident in the many ways she serves her family and community. She has participated in the Pennridge-Perkasie CROP Hunger Walk for 13 years. She knows that life is still hard for those from her homeland and throughout Southeast Asia. |