COMMUNITY NEWS
For more than 20 years, on the Sunday before Thanksgiving, the community within Los Alamos County has participated in a CROP Hunger Walk and Turkey Trot. In 2020, as you may have guessed, the event must be done differently. There will be no mass gathering walking through the stables. Instead, people are encouraged to walk or run as much as they want this month while asking their friends and family to donate to the cause of fighting hunger. Keep your social distance and wear a mask, but let’s work together virtually to combat hunger.
This continues to be a particularly difficult year for many of our neighbors. Some have lost jobs or been furloughed, leading to drastic decreases in food sufficiency. Across our country and around the world, people have suffered huge losses due to the pandemic, or as victims of innumerable wildfires, hurricanes and other disasters. Relief agencies, including local food banks, have seen their resources stretched thin. In response, folks in Los Alamos can help by maintaining our commitment to raising money for people with such tragic needs.
In recent years, the Los Alamos CROP Hunger Walk and Turkey Trot has involved around 200 participants, all taking a stand against hunger. We have been able to raise as much as $15,000 in one of these events. Under the auspices of Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty (CROP), the funds have been raised to help support L.A. Cares food bank as well as national and global relief and development programs through Church World Service and other agencies.
You can help by registering to walk or run, or just to raise funds to fight hunger and help the neighbor. Just go to: CROPHungerWalk.org/losalamosnm/ to find our Los Alamos Walk page. Once on the website, you will see two buttons where you can either REGISTER to set up your own fundraising page or DONATE by supporting someone who is raising funds. It’s very easy to use this website; you will get a response or a receipt via email from it in no time at all. If you register and set up your own page, set a goal for so many miles by the end of November, then post it to your Facebook page to ask your family and friends to contribute. They will be able to click on the link and donate on your page. By registering as part of the Los Alamos effort, we can track how much this community has raised.
To make this year’s anti-hunger efforts more fun, the committee will be holding two contests from Nov. 15 to 29. There will be “photo of the day” themes posted on the Los Alamos CROP Hunger Walk & Turkey Trot Facebook page, where you can submit your hunger walking selfies. We will also have an online bingo card to print out, on which you will mark off a square for each daily accomplishment: walk to a local business, walk around Ashley Pond, walk 5,000 steps in a day, that sort of thing. Twice a week, submit a photo of your card when you have completed a row. Submitted bingo cards and themed photos will be entered into random drawings for gift certificates to support local businesses. Drawings will take place on Sundays and Wednesdays: November 15, 18, 22, 25, and 29, with entries due by 5 pm on the day of the drawings. Enter as many times as you like! Having fun while raising money to combat hunger? Why not?
If you would prefer not to donate online at CROPHungerWalk.org/losalamosnm/ you can just make out a check to “CROP Walk” and mail it to CROP Walk, 1441 – 11th Street, Los Alamos NM 87544. All donations are tax-deductible!
Please join us in making the Los Alamos CROP Hunger Walk &Turkey Trot a success despite the complications of 2020. We look forward to seeing you online and in the contests!