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St. Joseph's parish in Greenwich will host a CROP Hunger Walk next month, rallying Christian churches from surrounding towns to raise money to fight hunger locally and globally.

It's the second time the parish has hosted the interfaith event, holding pre-walk meetings and putting together information packets and ads to get the word out.

"It's a great community event," said Liz Davis of St. Joseph's, who's coordinating the walk. "I think it brings the churches together. It's [about] great acts of love. We're doing Jesus' work, helping our brothers and sisters."

CROP, or Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty, is part of Church World Service, a cooperative Christian ministry that works to end hunger and poverty and promote peace and justice among vulnerable people. The organization responds to disasters, resettles refugees, promotes fair policies around the world and provides education.

CROP Walks were started in 1947 to help Midwest farm families in the U.S. share their grain with hungry people in post-World War II Europe and Asia. Today, the walks support CWS' grassroots, hunger-fighting development efforts - providing food and water, as well as seeds, tools, wells and water systems, technical training and micro-enterprise loans - around the world.

Local walk coordinators can choose to return 25 percent of funds to local efforts. The Greenwich walk, sponsored by the Greenwich Interfaith Fellowship, benefits three community organizations that pool resources to meet requests for assistance in the town. One of the organizations has a clothing closet and food pantry. Schuylerville and Mechanicville communities have also used the Greenwich walk in the past to raise money for charities there.

Donald Brooks, a St. Joseph's parishioner and past president of Greenwich Interfaith Fellowship, said that hunger in Greenwich goes unnoticed: "There definitely is a need."

The fellowship raised a few hundred dollars during its first walk in 1986. In more recent years, the Greenwich CROP Walk has collected between $7,000 and $15,000.

Mr. Brooks said participants recognize the need for food around the world: "It's not just the local focus."

The walk is "one small portion" of the fellowship's effects on the community, he added. Dozens of volunteers run a transportation service for medical appointments and food shopping; the group also sponsors an ecumenical Lenten luncheon and a baccalaureate service for high school graduates.

CROP Walks in the Capital Region raised more than $200,000 last year. Parishes throughout the Albany Diocese participate; for instance, St. Joseph's parish in Scotia and Our Lady of Grace in Ballston Lake are organizing teams of walkers for the Schenectady event, which locally benefits the Schenectady Inner City Ministry (SICM) to the needy. Our Lady of Grace parish has participated several times and usually raises about $1,000.

Harry Thornhill is OLG's walk chairman, along with his wife, Joan.

"When you feed the poor, you're feeding Jesus," Mr. Thornhill said. "People should be taking care of other people."[[In-content Ad]]

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