Who Benefits

CROP Hunger Walks assist hungry and impoverished people at home and around the world.

Your participation impacts individuals and families in more than 65 countries. Funds raised by CROP Hunger Walkers reach millions of neighbors around the world who have to walk to live -- as well as millions served by local food pantries, food banks, and meal sites here in the U.S. These funds feed the hungry, assist uprooted people, provide disaster relief, resettle refugees, and empower families and communities around the world to help themselves.

One in nine people worldwide lack access to clean water and a healthy diet. We walk to show solidarity and to bring awareness while raising funds for permanent change.

The CROP Hunger Walk is the only nationwide Walk that addresses hunger both locally and globally.

Making a Difference...

Locally:

Twenty-five percent (25%) of the funds raised stay in the Burke, Springfield, Fairfax, Fairfax Station, Clifton areas to benefit the following two local agencies:

Ecumenical Community Helping Others (ECHO)

Western Fairfax Christian Ministries (WFCM)

Due to inflation and the increased costs of food, these agencies are experiencing an unprecedented demand for food and have great difficulty in keeping their shelves stocked.

As a CROP Walker, the amount you raise can be a major contribution to their tireless efforts to provide food for our hungry and desperate neighbors. We gather together in solidarity with others in our own community to end hunger and poverty.

Nationwide, CROP Walks partner with and support 1,600 local food banks and soup kitchens.

Globally:

The remainder of the money (75%) is used worldwide (including in the U.S.) by Church World Service to relieve the tragic results of catastrophic events such as the current pandemic, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, and famine. The agency also provides transformational and sustainable development and educational programs in vulnerable communities across the globe.

CWS has moved quickly to adapt their programs around the world and to continue to provide vital services and information to the families and communities they work with.

Thanks to the overwhelming compassion of donors and volunteers, CWS programs in 2021 made a difference in the lives of neighbors here in the U.S. and also reached people in 65 other countries. A sample of the accomplishments this past year follows:

In the U.S., with community based support, CWS provided relief and recovery from disasters to 1,540 families.

In Paraguay, 2,200 people in six indigenous communities, with CWS' help, introduced climate-smart agriculture.

In Serbia, CWS provided 420+ Roma children with daily access to healthy meals, hygiene, clothing, school and homework assistance.

In Vietnam, families built or rehabilitated a total of 832 sanitary latrines through CWS programs, meaning 3,744 people now have safe, dignified places to relieve themsleves.

In Myanmar, CWS supported clean water for nearly 800 people in seven villages by building 15 wells.

In Kenya, Tanzania, and Unganda, CWS helped more than 10,000 farmers improve their food security by planting sweet potato vines or raising chickens, sheep, or pigs.

In Egypt, more than 7,000 unaccompanied children were provided counseling, legal assistance, and safe housing.

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, CWS reached 883 children of incarcerated parents and their families with boxes of food and hygiene items to prevent the spread of COVID-19 across Latin America and the Caribbean

CROP Walks Make a Difference

In 2021, over 107,000 people joined 500+ CROP Hunger Walks and raised over $10 million to fight hunger! We can contribute greatly to ongoing relief efforts.

Around the World:

Over 800 million people are hungry worldwide – that's almost 12% of the global population and more than one of every nine people on the planet. Roughly 9 million people die of world hunger each year, with over 3 million being children.

World Food Program (WFP)

"I never look at the masses as my responsibility. I look at the individual. I can love only one person at a time. I can feed only one person at a time. Just one... So you begin... I began. I picked up one person- Maybe if I didn’t pick up that one person I wouldn’t have picked up 42,000. Just begin... one..."

-Mother Teresa

At Home:

If all 41.2 million Americans living in food-insecure households stood in line at a food pantry in New York City, the line would stretch to Los Angeles and back. Twice.

The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC)