CROP Hunger Walk & Turkey Trot Day Nov. 20. Photo by B.E. Calkins

BY LYNN WYSOCKI-SMITH
AND CYNTHIA BIDDLECOMB

The 2022 Los Alamos CROP Hunger Walk & Turkey Trot, held on November 20, raised a total of $10,344.50 to help fight hunger in the U.S. and around the world. Of that amount, online donations came to $8,123.50, off-line and in-person donations totaled $1881.00, First United Methodist Church donated $90.00, and Atomic City Runners sponsored the event with a $250.00 contribution.  Eighty-two people participated in person by walking or running the course on North Mesa. The weather held, and participants had a pleasant time of it.

Why would eighty-two people brave the chill to walk with their neighbors on a November day? They realize that many of us take for granted that we can walk down the hall for clean drinking water, or to wash ourselves, our clothes, food, or hands.  CROP Hunger Walks like the Los Alamos one, held all around the nation, support families that must walk an average of 2.5 miles just to get water – water that isn’t clean, water that has to be carried back to their home.

Participating in a CROP Hunger Walk can’t directly reduce grocery prices, but we can raise funds to keep supporting local food banks. Global hunger is on the rise, and many people across the country and world struggle with daily food insecurity, not knowing how they will find their next meals.  Students who are lucky enough to get an education often try to do so on an empty stomach. Millions of young children around the world aren’t getting sufficient nutrition to grow up healthy and strong, or to fight off disease or infection.

Twenty five percent of the money raised by the local hunger walk each year goes directly to L.A. Cares, our local food bank. Seventy Five percent of the money we raise is used for food and clean water domestically and around the world.  These funds also go to support emergency relief efforts after natural disasters in the U.S. and abroad, including the immediate results of drought, wildfires, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, landslides, volcanic eruptions, blizzards and massive ice storms.

We are grateful to Los Alamos County residents for your continued participation and monetary support, and for donations received from friends and family across the country.  In addition to members of the coordinating committee, special thanks are due for race day help offered by Kathryn Berchtold, Paul Bradley, Susan Krohn, Tazler Smith, Ron Smith, and Joan Williams.

Thanks again for this strong community effort. Be sure to mark your calendars for the next Los Alamos CROP Hunger Walk & Turkey Trot which will be held at 2pm on November 19, 2023; as always, it’s the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

Gratefully,

The Los Alamos CROP Hunger Walk & Turkey Trot Committee 2022:  Cynthia Biddlecomb; Wendee Brunish; Ted Williams; Lynn Wysocki-Smith