DECATUR - Hungry to help, dozens of people strode out into the fall sunshine Sunday to raise money that will buy food for those in need.

The CROP Hunger Walk was a 5K afternoon hike from Decatur's Fairview Park out to the city's west side water treatment plant and back again. Walkers, who came from various churches for the interdenominational event, raised their own sponsorships and hoped to bring in about $10,000.

The money will be divided among local food pantries and help programs and charities assisting the hungry overseas. CROP stands for Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty and the Decatur event coordinator, the Rev. Stacey Brohard, pastor of Crestview Christian Church, said the need for a generous response has never been greater.

"If you talk to the people at the Good Samaritan Inn and the local food pantries, you find their numbers are up dramatically," added Brohard, 48. "More and more people are asking for assistance."

Good Samaritan benefits from the walk's proceeds and took part in it, too, with executive director Kathleen Taylor among those pounding the pavement on Sunday. She's having to find room at the Inn for a clientele that ranges from children just big enough to feed themselves to diners in their 90s. "We are fluctuating between 300 and 350 people daily at the beginning of the month and 350 to 400 at the end of the month," she said.

"We are feeding men, women and children and we are seeing a major increase in senior citizens; the cost of everything is escalating while seniors' fixed incomes stay the same, and so they are needing to supplement by eating with us."

Walker Nancy Lorey, who lives in Champaign but worships at First Congregational Church in Decatur, says joining the CROP Walk is an ideal way to help out a good cause: healthy exercise in splendid fall weather.

"And I enjoy the sense of community, of doing something with other people," said Lorey, 54. "Out here, I really feel the power of people, of the grassroots, of the idea that a few people really can make a difference."

For more information, go to www.churchworld service.org or call 1-888-297-2767.

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