LITTLE SILVER — For more than three decades, participants in the 5-mile Red Bank Crop Walk have provided food and donations for local nonprofits and food pantries in Monmouth County.
“New Jersey is a very expensive place to live, and many people can be working two or three jobs in a family and still not have enough to cover all the expenses,” Janie Schildge, coordinator for the walk, said in an interview.
The Red Bank Crop Walk, which winds through Red Bank, Fair Haven and Little Silver, will take place on Oct. 18 starting at 2 p.m. at Red Bank Regional High School, which is located at 101 Ridge Road in Little Silver.
Entering its 35th year, Schildge said the goal this year for the Crop Walk is to raise $135,000 and 18,000 pounds of food to support those in need.
“Twenty-five percent of the funds raised each year stay right here in Monmouth County helping to support our more than dozen local partners,” she said.
“The other 75 percent of the funds raised help support global partners in 80 countries and the United States through Church World Service programs.”
Schildge said the walk has been around for half of the 70 years since Church World Service was founded to help Europe rebuild after World War II.
“Unfortunately, needs are as great in the world right now as they were in World War II, and our goal is to help those who are hungry and homeless in our county and in other countries,” Schildge said.
“There are an estimated 70 million refugees in the world now, more than there have been since World War II, and we really walk with all of them in a sense, as Church World Service oversees refugee resettlement.
“Right here at home many are still out of their homes more than two years out from Sandy.”
Schildge said part of the effort is to collect 18,000 pounds of food to provide those in need with a proper nutritional balance.
“We call it ‘Hunger Free with 3’ because peanut butter, rice and beans offer a good, complete protein,” Schildge said. “We started collecting peanut butter because it was proving to be a staple for food pantries and it was the big thing in the first few years.”
Schildge said last year, approximately eight tons, or 16,000 pounds, of food was collected for 20 local pantries.
“We started doing the food drive probably five years into the walk, and it is just what we have been doing for years and it always exceeds expectations,” she said. “A can of beans, a jar of peanut butter, a small bag of rice, even a small can of soup, are really, really helpful for food pantries.”
Schildge said once the food is collected, it is sorted and distributed, and volunteers get it ready for the local participating pantries to pick up the afternoon of the walk.
“At the end of the day all of the food has gone out,” Schildge said, “… it is really kind of a magical thing.”
Schildge said local volunteers are also finding creative ways to help reach the $135,000 donation goal.
“One of our members from St. Thomas Episcopal in Red Bank who has been active for many years has created her very own ‘Crop Walk Bank in a Bottle,’” Schildge said. “She carries this decorated bottle all around, and she’s collecting small donations and she said no one turns it down and are quick to make a donation.”
Schildge said local high school teen leaders also held a garage sale and raised more than $300 by selling items and baked goods.
“Those are some really interesting and creative ways to get involved in the cause and really work for it, and … they’ve learned these skills that will really help them as they go through life,” she said.
She said the food drive is extremely important to local families struggling due to the high cost of living.
“It is tough here to make ends meet for a lot of families, so the food drive is really important to us as well as raising funds to support our local partners such as Lunch Break in Red Bank or Meals at Noon in Long Branch that work with families, work with children, providing meals for them,” Schildge said.
“It’s a balance some years, but we love what we do and are looking forward to another great event.”