Cleveland County CROP Walk

August 8, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                          CONTACT: Ed Kearns, Publicity Chair
                                                            443-9627; e-mail lughsraven@yahoo.ca

NORMAN – The Cleveland County CROP Walk to Stop Hunger will launch its annual campaign to fight hunger at home and abroad with a Team Leader Orientation and dinner at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 22, at Food & Shelter Inc., 104 W. Comanche.

The event will feature a free “Foods-of-Our-World Extravaganza,” with dinner donated by local ethnic cuisine restaurants. The evening will include a special performance by Oklahoma City singer-songwriter K.C. Clifford, whose song "Raise Your Voice" has been selected as the international anthem for CROP Walks. Clifford wrote the song for the Regional Food Bank in Oklahoma City and has performed it at food pantries across the country.

For more than 25 years, the local CROP Walk has united people of many beliefs and faiths to raise funds and raise awareness about the impact of poverty and hunger. Faith communities, civic and professional organizations, businesses, youth groups, student and university organizations, families and friends are invited to form teams to raise funds to support Norman’s Food & Shelter Inc. and the international relief efforts of Church World Service. An additional “walker entry fee” for peanut butter or tuna will be donated to food pantries throughout Cleveland County.

During the orientation, prospective team leaders will hear a short orientation about the charity walk-a-thon, which will take place on Sunday, Oct. 2. Participants will also receive pledge packets and promotional materials to share with their teams.

Rev. Joe Hendrixson, regional director for Church World Service, will be the featured guest at the recruitment kick-off. CROP – Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty – is the community hunger appeal of Church World Service, a cooperative ministry of 37 denominations providing sustainable self-help and development, disaster relief and refugee assistance in more than 80 countries.

The Oct. 2 CROP Walk is a three-mile, 45-minute walk that will begin at Food & Shelter Inc. and wind through tree- lined Norman streets and the OU campus. Pre-walk fun includes face painting for kids and performances by the Pride of Oklahoma Marching Band and Manyawi World Music Ensemble. The event will culminate with a hot dog cookout and dance music by DJ Adrian Buendia of Nexus Productions. Comfort stations along the route will be staffed by Girl Scouts and will offer restrooms and water for participants, plus bowls of water and dog treats for furry walkers.

"Our community is incredibly generous," said local CROP Walk co-chair Brenda Wheelock, noting that local CROP Walk organizers hope to raise $18,000 this year. "In the past 10 years, more than $160,000 has been raised to benefit people in need, both here and around the globe.”

Twenty-five percent of funds raised through the local CROP Walk are donated to Norman’s Food & Shelter Inc., which has provided emergency housing for homeless families and meals to the hungry for over 20 years. The remaining proceeds support the humanitarian work of Church World Service.

“Last year’s CROP Walk drew over 500 participants and raised nearly $16,000,” said co-chair Bill George. “It's a great feeling to walk with your family, your friends, your community and know that together you are doing something to alleviate hunger and poverty around the world and right here in our own backyard.”

On Sept. 17, the local CROP Walk will host its fourth Annual Sidewalk Chalk Art Contest for Kids & Families beginning at 9 a.m. at the Performing Arts Studio at the Santa Fe Depot, 200 S. Jones. The theme is “Helping the Hungry – Making a Difference,” and art work will be done along the Legacy Trail. Norman performer Jahruba Lambeth will also entertain contestants with African storytelling and drumming.

Participants are asked to donate peanut butter or tuna as the entry fee. The art contest is open to youth up to age 18 and families. Prizes will be awarded by age group and will include a family prize and a Mom’s-Only prize drawing.