BY CYNTHIA Z. BIDDLECOMB

Dust off your walking shoes and save the date for the in-person return of the Annual Los Alamos CROP Hunger Walk and Turkey Trot on Sunday November 21. Only offered online last year, due to the pandemic, the event will be offered “hybrid” this year, meaning both in-person and online.

This annual walk/run event has been raising money in Los Alamos for many years. L.A. Cares in Los Alamos will receive at least 25% of the total funds raised to fight hunger locally. L.A. Cares, our local food bank, also benefits from donations made at the event. The CROP Hunger Walk is a nationwide movement sponsored by Church World Service to raise funds to end hunger and poverty in the U.S. and around the world. Hundreds of religious groups, businesses, schools and others around the country organize local Walk events in their communities each year.

This year, following COVID-safe policies of the State and the schools, the Los Alamos event will take place outside, in the parking lot of the Los Alamos Middle School. Participants are asked to mask-up throughout the gathering times and when around other walkers/runners. Limited snack and drink options will be provided at the finish line. A drawing for a few pies and turkeys will also go to a few, lucky, participating families.

Registration at the event will begin at 1:30pm. The start of the 1.7 or 2.57 mile run/walk will be at 2:00pm. Between now and November 21, talk up the event and ask family and friends to sponsor you by donating to the cause. Anyone uncomfortable gathering in-person, can fundraise online for this event. Donations raised by local folks will be tallied at the end of the event and reported to the community through another article in this news source.

To register in advance for the event, and to start your fundraising now, go to https://events.crophungerwalk.org/2021/event/losalamosnm and set up your own page. You will be encouraged to link your page to your social media accounts to spread the word. If you prefer, you can just link it to your email address and send out emails to your potential supporters. 

Either way, the funds go to the cause of fighting hunger and poverty in Los Alamos, around our nation, and around the world.