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Walk Up An Appetite - Northern Illinois Residents Will Join Nationwide Hunger Walk

https://events.crophungerwalk.org/2021/event/dekalbil

2021 events can be found at events.crophungerwalk.org.

Many people are gearing up to raise funds during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, but some in northern Illinois are preparing for a different type of charity walk.

Father Dustin Lyon of St. George Greek Orthodox Church in DeKalb says he first heard about the Crop Walk when he lived in Iowa. It raises money to help fight hunger and poverty.

“And so here in DeKalb and Sycamore, we are supporting the Sycamore Food Bank, which is run by the United Methodist Church in Sycamore. We're also supporting Westminster's Food Program,” he said.

The group is also supporting Bethlehem Lutheran’s Feed My Sheep Food Pantry and the Meals on Wheels program that's run by the Voluntary Action Center.

Twenty-five percent of all funds go back into the local communities. The rest goes to Church World Service, a faith-based organization that supports communities across the United States and the world.

“They help with like hurricane relief or other natural disasters,” Lyon said. “They teach farming techniques, they'll purchase livestock, build houses, so there's a lot of different things they do.”

The walk begins at 2 p.m. on Sunday Oct. 3 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 830 N. Annie Glidden Rd. Participants will meet outside. Those who are not comfortable with coming out due to COVID-19, can walk virtually in their chosen environment. Online donations can also be made by visiting the crop walk website.

  • Yvonne Boose is a current corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. It's a national service program that places talented journalists in local newsrooms like WNIJ. You can learn more about Report for America at wnij.org.

Yvonne covers artistic, cultural, and spiritual expressions in the COVID-19 era. This could include how members of community cultural groups are finding creative and innovative ways to enrich their personal lives through these expressions individually and within the context of their larger communities. Boose is a recent graduate of the Illinois Media School and returns to journalism after a career in the corporate world.