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ANDY MATSKO/STAFF PHOTO Lily Locke, left, Ashland, and Hope Flickinger, Locustdale, walk around the track Sunday during the 11th CROP Walk at North Schuylkill High School football stadium. Behind them is Gage Flickinger, Locustdale. The Ashland Area Ministerium held the walk to raise funds to combat hunger.
ANDY MATSKO/STAFF PHOTO Susan Edwards, left, Gordon, and Sandy Saukaitis, Kulpmont, walk Sunday during the 11th CROP Walk at North Schuylkill High School football stadium. The Ashland Area Ministerium hosted the walk.
ASHLAND — Two women walked in honor of their mother during the Ashland Area Ministerium’s 11th CROP Walk on Sunday.
“Our mother was very giving. She was very concerned about others. If somebody needed something, she would do her best to see that they got it,” Sandy Saukaitis, 56, of Kulpmont, said.
Her sister, Susan Edwards, 58, of Gordon, agreed.
She described her mother as a “fun-loving woman that is very much missed.” Mary Lou Miller, 78, died in 2014 after a battle with breast cancer. Their mom often participated in the walk before she became ill. Saukaitis and Edwards wore red shirts with their mother’s name on them that were donated by a former pastor.
A friend, Susan Hocking, 69, of Gordon, sported a red shirt and also walked in memory of Miller.
“You see so many children that go hungry and families that are hungry that you want to do what you can,” Hocking said.
CROP originally stood for Christian Rural Overseas Program and began in 1947. It now stands for Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty.
Nineteen people walked at Ghosh Orthodontics Field at Spartan Stadium at the North Schuylkill High School during the walk from 2 to 4 p.m. The ministerium, which is composed of different parishes in the Ashland area, held the event. Of the funds raised, 25 percent goes to the Ashland Area Food Pantry, which is located at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Ashland. The other 75 percent goes to Church World Service, a nonprofit humanitarian organization that provides food and assistance to those in need.
“We are here today to walk for hunger,” the Rev. Timothy Christman, pastor of Simpson United Methodist Church, Gordon, told those gathered outside before the walk began.
The Rev. Dana Heckman-Beil, pastor of Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Ashland, said $591 was raised as of 3 p.m. for the event. Usually between 25 to 80 people attend. Christman did not have an updated amount as of press time Sunday.
Hunter Davis, 14, and Noelle Davis, 16, brother and sister, both ran laps on the track at the school. They felt it was important to help the less fortunate.
Their father, John Davis, Weston Place, said he was proud of them.
