Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

CASSOPOLIS — An annual fundraiser is returning to Cassopolis in October.

The annual Cass County Crop Walk will take place Sunday, Oct. 6. Registration will begin at 1:30 p.m., with the walk to begin at 2 p.m. Walkers will meet at the Cass County Council on Aging track, 60525 Decatur Road, Cassopolis.

“We have only one goal:  building a world where there is enough for all” is the opening mission statement of Church World Service,  an organization that has been serving people in the U.S. and around the world for 78 years.  For the past 36 years, Christians in Cass County have joined in a “CROP Walk” in solidarity with this mission and to raise funds for CWS programs. In the U.S. the funds are dispersed to more than 1,000 hunger fighting agencies (including five in Cass County), as well as to provide services for immigrants and refugees at 58 centers across the country.

“They meet people’s basic needs by supporting local food pantries, but they also do an incredible job of responding to natural disasters,” said Edwardsburg Presbyterian Church Pastor Scott Scheel of CWS. “By supporting the Crop Walk, we know that when a hurricane or an earthquake strikes, they will be there immediately helping people with the recovery.”  

Churches and other groups pack kits that contain hygiene supplies, menstrual kits, cleanup buckets, school supplies, and blankets that can be distributed to those who lost homes. 

Working with local villages and governments, CWS programs in impoverished areas look for sustainable solutions to hunger and poverty.  They provide materials and classes to help families in Guatemala build gardens and greenhouses, solar powered desalination technology in Kenya for clean water, and materials to construct latrines for sanitation in Cambodia.  

The CWS mission also serves immigrants and refugees who have had to leave their homes due to violence and persecution.  Their programs look out for unaccompanied children to prevent human trafficking and women who need life skills.  

“Even if my family and friends have enough, the Bible tells us to help others who are suffering,” said Leigh Goyings, who has participated in Cass County’s CROP Walk for 30 years.

Goins said that are welcome to join, including dogs, to meet other Christians across the county and to know that their walking and fundraising will help neighbors and people across the globe.  For more information or to obtain sponsorship forms, contact edwardsburgpc@gmail.com or call (269) 663-6815.