Bridgewater, Va.- On Oct. 28 through Nov. 3, Bridgewater College students and the surrounding community held a fundraising campaign week for people suffering from hunger around the world.

On Thursday, Oct. 31st from 5 to 7 pm, Bridgewater faculty, staff, and members of the local community could purchase a ticket — $10 for adults and $6 for children ages 12 and younger —  to participate in a CROP meal surrendered by BC students. They then enjoyed “dinner out” in the KCC dining hall. 

Since the meals were paid for on the student meal plan, all proceeds went directly to CROP’s hunger relief, education, and development programs in 80 countries around the world. A portion of the proceeds will be given to the Bridgewater Area Inter-Church Food Pantry and the remainder will be given to Church World Service’s (CWS) hunger-fighting development efforts around the world.

CWS is an organization which aims to fight hunger and poverty and promote peace and justice. The organization has been active for over 70 years, and they have consistently contributed to advocacy, emergencies, global development, and refugees as well as immigration issues.

Some 795 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life which is about one in nine people on earth, according to the Food Aid website. The vast majority of the world’s hungry people live in developing countries, where 12.9 percent of the population is undernourished.

Related to the event, on Sunday, Nov. 3 at the Bridgewater Community Center, Bridgewater students, faculty, staff, and members of the local community met to walk the 6-kilometer CROP Hunger Walk. Walkers asked others to sponsor them for every kilometer they walk. For example, a walker sponsored for $2 per kilometer would collect $12 from that sponsor before or after the 6K CROP Walk.

CROP Hunger Walk is a community-wide event sponsored by Church World Service and organized by local congregations or groups to raise funds to end hunger at home and around the world. CWS reported there were more than 800 walks and more than 87,000 participants across the US in 2018 and raised more than $8,300,000.