Walkers feel connection with world's needy people
BY CLARE MARIE CELANO Staff Writer

FREEHOLD - When they participate in the annual Freehold Area CROP Walk on Oct. 21, residents will be walking to provide help to people who live in places where they must walk for hours just to get clean drinking water.

The CROP Walk is organized by the Freehold Clergy Association which includes the clergy and leaders of more than 20 Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim congregations, as well as the chaplaincy of the CentraState Healthcare System.

The CROP (Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty) Walk was founded by the Church World Service, a relief, development and refugee assistance ministry of various religious affiliations.

According to a press release provided by Patricia Medley, pastor of Hope Lutheran Church, Freehold Township, the money raised from the walk helps the Church World Service to provide sustainable self-help and development, disaster relief, and refugee assistance in more than 80 countries.

The walk also helps to provide tools and disease-resistant seeds for farmers, it fights poverty and infant mortality in Afghanistan, and digs wells to provide safe drinking water in southern African countries that are plagued with drought and famine.

On Oct. 21 there will be 1-mile, 3-mile and 6-mile routes marked in Freehold Borough neighborhoods. Maps for the routes will be provided at registration.

According to the press release, each walker who brings $25 or more in pledges on the day of the walk and a jar of peanut butter will receive a Freehold Area CROP Walk T-shirt. The person who brings in the largest pledge amount on the day of the walk will become the "walk marshal." A CROP cap or full-color CROP T-shirt will be awarded to any walker presenting $200 or more. CROP items will also be available for purchase on the day of the walk.

The walk will provide confirmation service project credit for youngsters.

There will be water tables along the route and volunteers will assist with street crossings. Refreshments will be provided for walkers and volunteers.

Medley said she walks to identify with people around the world who must walk long distances to get food, water and firewood.

"We have so much here," Medley said. "When we do this walk we can at least stay in touch with people in primitive areas mentally and emotionally."

The pastor said walking for food and water is the job delegated to women and children in these countries.

"How can a young girl ever hope to receive an education when she spends most of her day walking for clean drinking water?" Medley asked.

To drive home the point, Medley said she brought physical evidence of this process to a local fair one year.

"We had a booth there and we brought a yoke [wooden bar] and two buckets," Medley said. "We filled them with water and let people lift them to see how heavy the water is to carry. This is what people must do every single day."

She said people were stunned by how heavy the buckets of water were and by the news that in many areas the water buckets are carried by children on a daily basis.

"It was a real education for people," she said.

When asked why she participates in this event year after year, Medley said, "Because it helps to take my upper middle class mind and put me in the consciousness of those who have so very little."

Anyone who would like to participate in the Oct. 21 CROP Walk in Freehold Borough may call Patricia Medley at (732) 462-7545 or Cantor Wayne Siet of Temple Shaari Emeth, Manalapan, at (732) 462-7744.