2008 Hunger Walk Video

I finally took the time to put my video clips together. See who helped raise nearly $25,000.00 this year!

Keep Turning-in Your Donations!

As of May 5th, you have turned in $21,314.93 - thank you! There are still several envelopes that have not been turned in and promised money not yet collected, so if you have any of those, please turn them in to your recruiter or our CROP treasurer, Gloria Lewis. You can also drop off your walker envelopes and money at the First United Methodist Church office - Attn: Gloria. You walked by the office as you were finishing your walk last month. You did a great job on an awfully hot day - fantastic work!

6 . . . . 5 . . . . 4 Days to Go!

The CROP Hunger Walk is almost here . . . . are you ready? Now's the time to collect your pledges; it's easier to turn them in on the day of the walk, rather than collecting them in the weeks afterward. It's your choice and your sponsors' but the sooner the funds can be sent in, the sooner they can begin working!

Don't forget to bring your canned and boxed food (any non-perishable is welcome but see the March 18 posting for the list of food pantry staples).

It's never too late to ask your friends to join you as walkers or sponsors - even Sunday morning!

We can still use more volunteers to help serve refreshments, sort and count food, take down signs, help decorate. We have one "sag wagon" driver but could use another so people, especially little children, can get picked up sooner if they can't finish the whole walk. Just email Renata at venturacropwalk@gmail if you want to volunteer for anything!

And to psych you up for this weekend, here are a couple of videos from last year - the start and the finish!




See you soon!

Thank You, Sponsors!

Thanks to the Downtown Branch of Affinity Bank and the Ventura Sunrise Rotary, we will be able to purchase refreshments and a prize or two for our highest fundraisers. Another sponsor is the Feinstein Foundation, the foundation that will send a check based on the amount of canned food we can collect. This year, due to corporate cutbacks, we lost a major donation to CROP. As you are looking for walk supporters, please also look at some of our local businesses and organizations. Do you know anyone who might donate $20 or more toward refreshments or participant prizes? Please ask them and let Walk Coordinator, Renata Hundley, at venturacropwalk@gmail.com know.

Counting Down and Counting UP

With just one week to go before the day of the Walk, our online fundraisers are doing a phenomenal job! As of 7:30 pm today, they have raised $2,982.00! Fantastic - keep it up! The "leader of the pack" continues to be Andrew Wakelee, who has already raised $1,075.00. His fundraising page says it all:

In the last four years, people like you helped me raise more than $5,500 to install clean water wells, aid families in places like Darfur, provide food and housing here in Ventura, help people in poor countries to be better farmers, and help people when there are disasters around the world.

No matter how much each walker raises, they are doing the same thing - fighting hunger and improving the quality of life for people around the world. Whether the need is caused by economic or social factors, or caused by natural or human-caused disasters, each dollar raised will help!

Online CROP Fundraising Works!

As of this morning our online fundraisers have already raised $1807.00 - thank you Andrew, Robert, Kevin, Leslie, and Terry - great work, keep it up! Some of you are asking how you can do it too. The simplest way to start your own online web page for CROP is to follow the directions on the Church World Service link. Another direct link is via http://www.cropwalk.kintera.org/. In either case, you'll need to click on the map and follow the link to the Ventura walk link. Click on the Register Here link and you're off! You can upload a small picture of yourself, your team, or use one of the pictures provided. Then you can send emails to your friends, relatives, and co-workers and you're done! Donors can either use their credit card or write your a check, your Walker envelope and the online help tell you how to account for these e-donations. It's fun and easy so give it a try!

CROP Hunger Walk Canned Food Drive

Walking raises money and hunger awareness. Bringing canned food on the day of the walk will help feed people in our city right away AND raise a bit more money because of the Feinstein Foundation $1 Million Campaign to Fight Hunger. This is the eleventh year the Feinstein Foundation has issued it's challenge and divided a million dollars among all the anti-hunger fundraisers around the country each spring.
So whether you walk or not, please deliver, or ask someone to deliver, food to Trotter Hall at First United Methodist on Sunday, April 13th. Any non-perishible will be appreciated but the following food items are most desired at the Project Understanding and Catholic Charities food pantries in Ventura:

• Tuna
• Peanut butter
• Jelly
• Powered milk
• Canned vegetables
• Pasta & pasta sauce
• Canned & dried beans
• Breakfast cereals
• Soups (canned soups- not ramen)
• Rice

Other Ways to Help

Walking or sponsoring a walker are not the only ways you can help. We have need for a large and diverse Support Team to do any of the following (we can use several people to do most of these jobs):

• BEFORE THE WALK

Get city permit - DONE!
Publicity - make signs and print posters
Publicity - get announcement on CAPS / local TV & radio
Put up posters in businesses around town
Solicit business & service club sponsors
Organize & populate rest stops - DONE!
Number thank you bookmarks - DONE!
Put cups on strings - DONE! (but might need more)
Create maps, flyers, walker cards, etc. - DONE!
Print/donate 200-300 route maps
Print/donate walk day signs


• ON WALK DAY

Put up direction signs
Decorate & Set up
Help recruiters check-in walkers
Canned food - count, sort and box
Start walk w/starter pistol or ?
Drive "Sag Wagon"
Help with refreshments
Tally early results during walk
Sound set-up
Provide pre-walk music or entertainment
Lead pre-walk stretch
Welcome back walkers
Distribute CWS survey
Provide after-walk music - DONE!
Take down direction signs
Help clean-up
Complete final food sort & count


• AFTER THE WALK

Help collect late envelopes for Treasurer
Compile statistics for Feinstein Foundation report

If you are available to do any of these things (you or your group) please contact Renata via email at venturacropwalk@gmail.com - we would be most grateful!

Everything a CROP Walker Might Want to Know . . . .

. . . is in the brochure attached to this link:
Information for CROP Hunger Walkers and Would-be CROP Hunger Walkers. (Sorry, I can't make it appear rotated the right direction and smaller than 133% view - you'll need to click the icons and make the adjustment yourself once the file opens.)

Where Do We Walk?

Here's a map of the walk route. Basically, we begin at the First United Methodist on Santa Clara Street near Cabrillo Middle School. From there, we walk downhill :-) to the beach and follow the bikepath along the Promenade, past the Fairgrounds, and north along the Ventura River. At Main Street, we head back toward town but cross the street to Mission Park and turn left, heading north again on Ventura Avenue. We walk up to Project Understanding on Vince and the Avenue (this is a rest stop with restrooms!), then turn around and stay on the same side of the street until we are back on Main Street. Cross to Mission Park and continue heading east through Downtown Ventura. At Chestnut Street, turn right on block, then left on Santa Clara Street. Cross to Plaza Park (another rest stop) and you're on your way to the finish! There will be refreshments and a band to welcome you back where you began - you've just completed a 10K walk and raised money and consciousness to fight hunger's causes as well as giving immediate relief to people who need food!

Join us on Sunday, April 13th!

We are just four weeks away from the day off the 2008 walk. We already have a number of dedicated recruiters and walkers raising and collecting pledges but we have a long way to go. Last year, we raised over $31,000.00 - can you help us beat that? You can help in a number of ways - by walking, by sponsoring a walker, by volunteering for a support job on the day of the walk, by getting your club or business to donate money for after-walk refreshments or money to purchase t-shirts or prizes for our highest fundraisers, or by helping us publicize the CROP Hunger Walk during the upcoming weeks. You can also collect canned goods to bring on the 13th! If you'd like to get involved, please email us at:

venturacropwalk@gmail.com


Church World Service has put together some videos that will explain how the money is used. They have put them on YouTube for your viewing pleasure: