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CASS COUNTY — This year’s Church World Service Crop Hunger Walk will be hosted Sunday, Oct. 4 in locations across Cass County. 

CWS is a worldwide, nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide “responses to hunger, poverty, displacement and disaster,” according to officials. One of its main fundraisers involves individuals and churches sponsoring walkers around the country.

CWS programs include creating sustainable farming practices, providing access to clean water and responding to natural disasters. 

In response to 2019 hurricanes, hygiene supplies, cleaning buckets and blankets were handed out to 73,000 families in the U.S. Last year, more than $8,500 was raised by 75 walkers in Cass County; 25 percent of those funds were distributed to local food pantries.

This year’s walk will be a bit different. Local routes are planned in four locations across the county.  Dowagiac residents will meet at the First United Methodist Church, located on Lowe Street in Dowagiac, from 1 to 2 p.m. Cassopolis participants will meet at the Cass County Council on Aging track, located on Decatur Road in Cassopolis, from 1 to 2 p.m. People from Edwardsburg should meet at the Presbyterian Church, located on Lake Street in Edwardsburg, from 1 to 2 p.m. 

All of these walks are being hosted Oct. 4, but in Vandalia, community members will meet at the Church of God, located on Walnut Street in Vandalia, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m.  Wednesday, Sept. 23.  All walkers are asked to bring a mask and practice social distancing. 

Sponsors are encouraged to donate online if possible at crophungerwalk.org/dowagiacmi. 

For more information on donating or signing up to walk, contact Leigh Goyings at (269) 591-1334.