HCHS NewsBlog: CROP Walk, CROP Walk, read all about it!

A lot of people in the Shelby County area are unaware of the CROP organization. We took it as our responsibility to try to inform as many people as we could! CROP has been around since 1947 and it has continued to grow bigger and bigger every year. CROP stand for Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty. As this organization has gotten larger people came together and started to walk and rise funds hints the name CROP Walk. The CROP walk in the Harlan area was held this past Sunday (October 7th). Registration started at 1:00pm and all of us left the meeting spot at the Immanuel Lutheran Church at 1:30pm to beging walking. We walked three miles and made stops at four churches; Immanuel Lutheran, First United Methodist, St. Michael's and Congregational United Church of Christ. At each stop we prayed for peace, and strength for everyone in need of clean water, food, shelter..etc. by saying five different prayers. Here are a couple fact that are eye openers to many through out the World!

* 1.1 billion people are forced to survive on less than a dollar a day!
*Over one billion people (about one sixth of the world) do not have access to safe water and 2.4 billion don't have access to improved sanitation.
*Every day almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes. Thats about one child every five seconds.

*In the United State there is about one doctor to every three hundred and fifty people, while in sub-Saharan Africa it is about one doctor to about every ten thousand people.

*Two million children die each year from infections spreed by dirty water and lack of access to sanitation. *The average distance women in developing countries walk each day to fetch water is 3.6 miles.

That last fact is what CROP Walk is all about. "We Walk Because They Walk."

Here are some questions for thought.
Have You ever had to walk at least a mile to get water for you or your family?-More then 200 million hours are spent every day by women and children to collect water from the distant and very often polluted, sources.
Did you or your family members wash laundry this week?- The average American uses 100-150 gallons of water each day to wash laundry and dishes. On the other hand the average African only uses 3-5 gallons of water each day!
Do you drink any bottled water today?- In the United States we often choose to buy bottled water even though we have clean water at the tap. One of every six people in the world lack access to safe drinking water.

When you walk in the CROP Walk, you help the Church World Service (CWS) to provide clean, safe water through wells, hand pumps, gravity-flow community water systems, water filtration systems and a whole lot more. The CWS also works to improve community health hygiene, and sanitation standards around the world.