Waynesboro CROP Walk raises funds to fight world hunger

The 49th annual Waynesboro-East Augusta CROP Walk for Hunger this year attracted 15 organizations – mostly churches – to raise money during Sunday's 3-mile walk.

Marty Siebken, chairman of the local walk's steering committee, told The News Virginian this year's goal is to raise $20,000. About three-quarters of these funds go to Church World Service, a global organization founded during World War II that provides food, clothing and medical supplies to areas in Europe and Asia.

Siebken said the rest of the money raised Sunday will be donated to local charities including the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank, Meals on Wheels and Disciples Kitchen of Waynesboro. Disciples Kitchen is a soup kitchen that distributes meals to those in need out of the parking lot of Second Presbyterian Church.

The 3-mile walk begins at the city's Ridgeview Park and descends to Main Street and Constitution Park, where the trail meets the South River Greenway.

Siebken said the walk heads along the greenway to the Waynesboro YMCA before ending behind the soccer fields in Ridgeview.

“People seem to be enjoying the greenway,” Siebken said. “The greenway is a nice feature and there is no traffic.”

Siebken said it's a tall order, but with the significant cash raised this year and next, the local CROP Walk could bring in more than $1 million raised in half a century.

“That would be really great,” Siebken said of breaking the $1 million mark.

The CROP in CROP Walk stands for Christian Rural Overseas Program. The program has now outgrown the acronym, but is still in use. CROP Walks take place in more than 2,000 communities across the United States each year.