Hunger Walk Draws Record 600 Volunteers

As a choir sang “We Are the World,” an estimated 600 people carrying banners and balloons left St. Stephen Presbyterian Church in Chatsworth on Sunday afternoon to begin the San Fernando Valley’s 11th Annual Hunger Walk.

Chairwoman Carol Hiestand of Chatsworth said individuals representing more than 45 churches and other groups were participating in the event, the largest number in the walk’s history. She said each person who joined in the 10-K walk had secured sponsors who pledged to pay a set amount of money for each kilometer completed.

Organizers of the event--the San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council and the Church World Service--estimated that the walk would raise at least $40,000 for community food pantries, the California Interfaith Hunger Coalition and national agencies that distribute food to the world’s hungry.

Ed Niebergall, of the St. Stephen’s congregation, presented certificates to individuals and groups during a program before the walk.

The Congregational Church of the Chimes in Sherman Oaks, with 57 walkers, received the certificate for having the most participants. Awards also went to the Prince of Peace Episcopal Church of Woodland Hills and the Congregational Church of Northridge.

Another award was given to Bruce and Helen Lentkoop of Northridge, their children, Amy, 15; Dan, 13, and Mandy, 8, and Helen Lentkoop’s father, S. V. Blaha, 68, for having the most participants in one family.

More than three hours after the walk began, organizers still were unsure of just how much money walkers had raised. Walk recruiter Lynne Goldsmith said that, by late Sunday afternoon, only half of the pledge slips had been tabulated.

“We’ve raised at least $40,000, maybe more,” Goldsmith said. “One woman had pledges of $1,000 by herself.”

Although it began raining about 45 minutes before the last of the walkers returned to the church at 4 p.m., Goldsmith said, all 600 participants completed the course. Last year’s walk attracted about 300 walkers who raised $20,000, she said.

DeWayne H. (Casey) Howell, regional director of Church World Service, said the hunger walks started in 1946, when a group of farmers raised money to send grain to children in European countries ravaged by World War II.