BY DAVID BEEMER
Like many islanders, my wife and I like to garden and appreciate a fresh tomato, potato or stalk of asparagus.
Unfortunately, the island is also home to plenty of other land-locked vegetable munching mammals. Many are the mornings when our visit to the garden invokes a few choice words for the deer/rabbits/raccoons who share our piece of the wilderness.
This might to seem a strange way to kick off my annual invitation for my neighbors to participate in the BI/NK CROP Hunger Walk — but stay with me!
The annual walk to support Church World Service and Helpline of Bainbridge and Fishline of Poulsbo is set for 2 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 25, starting at Eagle Harbor Congregational Church.
If you’ve lived around here for a while, then you are probably familiar with CROP. Each fall, a few hundred local folks take to the streets of downtown Bainbridge for a 5K walk to help fight world hunger and the needs of folks right in our own backyards.
Church World Service (CWS), along with the more known support programs for world food and water support, is also one of only nine national organizations with offices focused on refugee resettlement.
Of the BI/NK CROP Hunger Walk funds earned, 75 percent supports CWS, 20 percent is distributed to Helpline of Bainbridge, and 5 percent goes to Poulsbo’s Fishline.
Over the 21 years of CROP on Bainbridge, the event has raised $757,000, and accounts for about 20 percent of the annual Helpline budget. The Bainbridge walk is ranked seventh in CWS CROP history for funds raised.
So, every fall, me and our little garden are brought to the reality that while I enjoy the fresh produce from my garden, I don’t depend on it to feed my family. Probably the kind of complaint only worth the “ink” of a Bainbridge Islanders “Facebook” post — not a real world problem. As CWS says on their website:
“We believe that there is enough food, water and justice for everyone in our world.”
We have enough — we just have to help groups like CWS with the distribution.
OK, here are the basics. While the walk itself is Sept. 25 and everyone is invited to sign up and join in the walk, you can also participate by donating to a walker. Donating is really easy; go to www.crophungerwalk.org/bainbridgeislandwa.
There, you will find a way to donate to the walk, and even register if you’d like to walk.
Another way to contribute is to click on the restaurant page link on that same CROP page.
This year, restaurants are donating gift certificates to the BI/NK CROP Hunger Walk and the certificates are part of an online auction. Check out the page to try it out.
Additionally, Spice Route, located in the Bainbridge Pavilion, is donating 25 percent of the proceeds of all dine-in and take-out orders to the CROP Hunger Walk.
So, if you can’t make it to the walk itself (OK, it is a home Seahawk game day), then earn your penance by donating to the 2016 event!
See you on the streets!
David Beemer is a native Bainbridge Islander, and a member of the BI/NK CROP Hunger Walk organizing committee.
