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 The Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall passes through downtown Wapakoneta Wednesday, September 1. Staff photo/William Laney By CARLA MEYER
Staff Writer
For 45 minutes, the roar of motorcycles could be heard passing under an American flag hanging from two ladder trucks. For 45 minutes, area residents gathered in the shadow of the Auglaize County Courthouse and Wapakoneta Fire Station waved and clapped as motorcyclists rode by.
The smiles and waves turned into clapping and cheers as the Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall passed down Willipie Street on its way to Custenborder Field in Sidney where it was greeted by a field of American flags.
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Friday, 25 September 2009 |
By KRISTA HAYES
Staff Writer
Members with a local fundraiser met with area church leaders this week to garner support and participation for their worldwide cause.
“What we would like to see for this year’s annual CROP Walk is to get as many church congregations in and around the Wapakoneta area involved in the cause as we can,” Church World Service Assistant Regional Director Nicholas Kiger said addressing members of the Wapakoneta Area Ministerial Association gathered Wednesday at the Wapakoneta Church of the Nazarene.
“Wapakoneta has always had pretty good support from its church leaders and congregations over the years with its participation in the walk,” he said, “and now more than ever, it’s important for different churches to come together to fight poverty and hunger, not only locally, but globally as well.”
With a theme of “We Walk Because They Walk,” the Church World Service was founded in 1947 shortly after World War II, with its first CROP (Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty) Walk taking place in Bismark, N.D., in 1969.
Composed of neighbors from different faiths, cultures and ages, CROP Hunger Walks allow participants to walk together to take a stand against hunger in the world. Together, participants raise awareness and funds for international relief and development, as well as local hunger-fighting agencies.
According to the Church World Service Web site, hungry people in developing countries typically walk as much as 6 miles a day to get food, water, fuel and to take their goods to markets.
Locally, the third annual Tom Roberts Memorial Crop Hunger Walk, named after the late pastor of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, is scheduled to be held at 9 a.m. Oct. 24, with its starting point at Miller’s Corral.
Participants walk 2 miles through the Grandview Estates subdivision to raise awareness for their cause.
Roberts introduced the event to Wapakoneta before his sudden death from brain cancer in 2007, with the hope that every walk would enable families nationwide to rebuild their lives after disaster, help people get access to safe drinking water by building wells and enabling children to go to school by providing safe places for them to learn.
“The third annual Tom Roberts Memorial CROP Walk will be the fifth time Wapakoneta congregations have joined together to raise both awareness and money for those in need of food locally and across the world,” local CROP Walk organizer Darrel Acker said. “Seven churches composed of 130 walkers raised $4,200 during last year’s walk, and each year participation keeps growing.”
In participating in the event, walkers collect pledges for the cause, with proceeds split between local and national organizations. Twenty five percent of the proceeds are divided between Mercy Unlimited and God’s Storehouse, while 75 percent goes to the Church World Service to distribute as needed to overseas ministries.
With a goal of raising $1,000 per church this year, Acker said Wapakoneta’s own CROP Walk has come a long way since its start in 2005.
“I think raising $1,000 per church is a realistic and attainable goal,” Acker said. “In 2005, we had only 40 walkers who managed to raise more than $1,700, and each year the event keeps getting bigger and bigger.
“We realize that these are difficult times and that money is short,” he said, “but if we don’t do something now, then poverty around the world may never end — it’s kind a like a catch-22.”
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Last Updated ( Monday, 28 September 2009 )
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