Church targets poverty

fromThe Northwest Herald

By JOCELYN ALLISON - jallison@nwherald.com

CRYSTAL LAKE – On Oct. 14, about 200 church-goers are expected to beat the pavement in Crystal Lake to raise money in the 19th annual CROP Walk to end poverty locally and worldwide.

On the same day eight hours earlier, 11 people from Bethany Lutheran Church in Crystal Lake will be having their own walk in Tanzania, one of several countries across the globe that benefits from the annual fundraiser.

CROP stands for Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty. The event will benefit the international relief agency Church World Service and two local charities, Crystal Lake Food Pantry and McHenry County PADS.

Mission trip leader Ron Henning of Crystal Lake said the cross-continent walk was a twist on the humanitarian mantra, “Think globally, act locally.”

“We’re acting locally but we’re also able to act globally by doing this in Tanzania,” said Henning, 62.

Henning and his wife, Pat Henning, decided to organize a 4-mile CROP Walk in Africa after learning their church mission trip would be happening at the same time.

“It’s going to make it so real for [the people on the trip] to have seen these things first-hand and then participate in the CROP Walk, which benefits some of these places,” said Pat Henning, 61, a recruiter for the event and longtime participant in the walk.

The Hennings and fellow parishioners will be visiting the Kiutu parish in Arusha, Tanzania, about 80 kilometers from Mt. Kilimanjaro near the border with Kenya. The Arusha Diocese has a partnership with the regional body that supports Bethany Lutheran, the Northern Illinois Synod.

Ron Henning, a retired English teacher from District 155, has visited the area several times through the Mwangaza Education for Partnership, an international exchange program to train teachers from throughout Tanzania and improve literacy in the region.

The group from Bethany Lutheran plans to visit the Mwangaza Centre, along with local hospitals, a Hospice palliative care center under development and an AIDS orphanage, Ron Henning said. They’ll complete their CROP Walk around a field above Mwangaza Centre with a view of Mount Meru, he said.

The trip is an effort to build relationships with members of Bethany Lutheran’s sister parish and bring back to Crystal Lake the lessons they learn from their African counterparts, he said.

“They give us an ability to stand back and look at what’s important in our lives,” Ron Henning said. “As poor as they are, you don’t see them nearly as unhappy as a lot of rich people in our country.”

It’s also a chance to get a first-hand look at the region’s needs, Pat Henning said.

“That’s what we’re doing with our trip,” she said. “Find out what’s going on, what the needs of the people are ... rather than just write a check and not follow through with where the money goes.”

Get involved

What: Crystal Lake CROP Hunger Walk

Where: First United Methodist Church, 236 W. Crystal Lake Ave., Crystal Lake

When: 1 p.m. Oct. 14

Contact: 815-459-0785