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To borrow a well known opening line from Snoopy of the Peanuts cartoon strip: "It was a dark and stormy night"...er, afternoon, October 23 when a smaller than usual crowd of people gathered at The Lansing Town Park for the annual fund raiser known as "The Lansing CROP Walk." 
Snoopy's "dark and stormy” weather discouraged many from actually walking, but not from dropping off their monetary donations. Or enjoying the hot dogs and juice supplied by the Lansing Lions Club. Or being guided by Andrea Conlon in the painting of pumpkins donated by Turek Farms of King Ferry and Lansing.
Collecting for the Food Pantry
Or dropping off non-perishable food donations at a "House of Cans" booth run by Boy Scouts and 4-Hers. Mary Searles of the Lansing Food Pantry reports receiving 130 items from this one collection point; she does not yet have a report on the amount of money raised.
So, what is a "Crop Walk"?
The short answer to that question can be as simple as saying "It is a walk to raise funds to combat hunger, help out the local food pantry, enjoy a quasi-carnival and have a lot of fun with people of all ages and faiths while raising that money".
A longer answer involves an equally long history, stretching back nearly six decades, when the letters for the food related acronym "CROP" stood for
C = ChristianR = RuralO = OverseasP = Program
This charitable effort replaced a "Wheat for Relief' appeal, a program established at the very end of WWII to gather grain surpluses from the wheat belt of the United States for distribution to war devastated Europe and Asia. At that point in history, the considerable assistance of the federal government was put in motion to ship the grain overseas to feed the hungry people residing there.
In 1952, Church World Service established the national CROP Office at its Elkhart, Indiana headquarters and the program has been constantly changing. It reports that some 2,000 communities across the United States sponsor CROP Walks. These communities can choose a local charity to return 25% of the funds it raises to local hunger fighting program.
Signing in
The Lansing CROP Walk is a joint effort of All Saints Catholic Church and Lansing United Methodist Church. The Lansing Food Pantry benefits from the Lansing CROP Walk by receiving all the non-perishable items donated on site and a quarter of the monetary donations.
According to the CROP Walk FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) page of Church World Service "CROP is no longer an acronym; it is the name given to community, interfaith hunger education and fundraising events sponsored by Church Worlds Service and organized by 22 CWS/CROP regional offices across the United States."
Further, "In some CWS/CROP regions, CROP has come to mean:
C = CommunitiesR = ReachingO = Out toP = People."
Daniel Comisi enjoys a hot dog provided by the Lansing Lions
In Lansing, CROP Walk brings out the diversity and generosity this area is known for. Walkers of all ages, scouts, 4-Hers, lifestyle, members of various faiths, senior citizens in The Lansing Older Adults Program or living at Woodsedge, plus staff and residents at the Lansing Residential Centers participated on the 23rd of October in a fund raising program that will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2006.
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