MIDDLEBURY — The 46th annual Addison County CROP Hunger Walk will take place Sunday, Oct. 3. Addison County neighbors have committed to this event since 1975.

Every autumn with the same rhythm as sugar maples turning crimson, friends and neighbors lace up their sneakers and open their wallets with energy and generosity. Over the last six years the annual CROP Hunger Walk has raised close to $25,000 on average. Out of more than a thousand walks, our walk has been listed in the Cream of the CROP top 100 walks nationwide for years. One quarter of the total raised always stays right here in Addison County to support these local hunger-fighting programs:

• Charter House Coalition – Lunches

• Vergennes Community Food Shelf

• HOPE

• Have a Heart Food Shelf

• Middlebury Summer Lunch Program

• John Graham Emergency Shelter

• ACA-CVOEO

This year Will Stevens of Golden Russet Farm is the Honorary Chair. Registration begins at noon on the Middlebury Town Green, with team photos at 12:30 p.m., and Will Steven’s remarks at 12:50 p.m. A two-mile walk through town follows; masks will be required.

The funds raised mean that Church World Service can work year-round with their partner agencies whenever and wherever food insecurity happens or disaster strikes. CWS is already on the ground helping the victims of the earthquake in Haiti and Hurricane Ida along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. CWS teams are also welcoming recently evacuated Afghanis as they arrive in their new communities and supporting them with housing, legal assistance and other critical support services.

As well as encouraging words from Stevens, registration on the Middlebury green will include informational displays by local hunger-fighting organizations and music. Stevens, who served four terms in the Vermont House and has also served as president of the Vermont Organic Farmers Association, and his wife Judy have been working to improve food local food systems since they started their Shoreham farm in 1984.

Anyone can sign up for the walk or sponsor a walker with a donation. Forming a team of walkers is encouraged.

All those interested in walking may contact Ellen McKay Jewett at [email protected] or visit the Addison County CROP Hunger Walk page to learn more, register to walk or make a donation at crophungerwalk.org/middleburyvt.

The annual CROP Hunger Walk is a program sponsored and supported by local congregations, businesses, schools, sports teams, and individuals in partnership with CWS, an international relief, development and refugee resettlement agency. Thank you to Middlebury College’s Scott Center for Spiritual and Religious Life for its extra administrative support.

This year’s walk is in memory of Mary Ann Castimore of Waltham, who served on the CROP Hunger Walk planning committee for many years and who passed away this winter. Castimore’s dedication to and energy for so many causes is deeply missed.