We Walk Because They Walk!

For the past 22 years I have spent one Sunday afternoon in October, while trudging some unfamiliar streets in uptown Charlotte, considering what it would be like not to have running water. A flashback to the days following Hurricane Hugo? No, something much more positive – The Greater Charlotte CROP Hunger Walk. I have walked when the route was 10 miles, 6 miles and thankfully now 3.5 miles! I have walked with lagging small children, exuberant teens, and determined seniors.

No matter who I walk with, I think of the Walk slogan “We walk because they walk.” I think of the women and children globally who have to walk each day because the closest water source is miles from their villages. I think about the wells that have been drilled in Afghanistan, the pipes laid in Central America, the crops sown in Southeast Asia; all because thousands of Charlotteans, walk on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in October.

The CROP Walk, sponsored by Church World Service, an interfaith response to hunger and crisis around the world, gives us all a chance to do something for hungry people in Charlotte and across the globe. One fourth of the money raised stays here to aid those in need in Charlotte; the rest goes to make a life changing difference in places I will never see. And it is one way that Charlotte is genuinely a World Class City – we have the most financially successful CROP Walk in the nation! My heart belongs to Loaves & Fishes, but my feet belong to CROP.