MIDDLEBURY — Sunday, Oct. 4, will mark the 38th year that Addison County volunteers will walk to raise money to fight hunger and poverty through the annual CROP Hunger Walk.
Last year, the walk raised just shy of $27,000 — putting the Middlebury event in the top 10 as far as money raised, out of 94 walks held in the six New England states and Lower Hudson Valley of New York. 
That impressive total enabled large donations to be made to seven local hunger-fighting organizations: The John Graham Shelter in Vergennes; H.O.P.E. (Helping Overcome Poverty’s Effects), the Middlebury Summer Lunch Program, the Have A Heart Food Shelf in Bristol, Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity, the Vergennes Community Food Shelf, and the Middlebury Transitional Care Coalition (Middlebury Community Suppers). 
CROP stands for Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty. The annual CROP Hunger Walk is a program sponsored  and supported by local congregations, businesses, schools and individuals in partnership with Church World Service, an international relief, development and refugee resettlement agency. Twenty-five percent of funds raised goes to local food shelves.
Registration on the Middlebury town green begins at noon, and the walk starts at 1 p.m. The rain location for registration is the Middlebury Congregational Church. 
People of all ages and abilities are encouraged to walk. Participants from previous years have included families with strollers to those with canes and wheelchairs. Sign-up is needed before one can obtain pledges. Most local congregations have a designated recruiter who will provide registration packets. New groups or individuals not connected with a congregation can obtain one by calling Patty Hallam at 388-1561. Sign-up and pledging can also be accomplished online at www.churchworldservice.org.