Although the CROP Walk for Hunger focuses on a serious issue-feeding the hungry-that doesn’t mean participants can’t have fun while they’re moving along the route. With this year’s theme of “Chickens, Beans & Big Dreams,” there is the possibility a chicken or two, either of the fowl species or a human in a chicken suit could be strutting along the Riverwalk on Oct. 12.

“I’ll be walking in a chicken costume,” Tammey Aichner, executive director of the United Churches of Lycoming County, shared recently.

“A couple of years ago, the theme was, I think like, be the change, so we had, we had the beekeepers from Trinity Episcopal Church there, and we gave everyone little jars of honey. And our rise up village bakery made these delicious honey cookies that we gave to everybody,” she said.

“We try to do something. So we’re going to have a couple live chickens there, and I was promised that they were well behaved, and I’m going to be walking in a chicken costume. We’ll probably be playing the chicken dance at the registration table or something like that. Yeah, Penn State Extension has agreed to come and talk about like, the importance and benefit of canning and preserving,” she said.

In the midst of having fun, over the years, over the years Aichner estimates that the walkers and their sponsors have raised well over a million dollars for hunger efforts locally and globally.

This year’s walk begins at 1 p.m. and because participants choose how far they walk, there is not finishing time. The starting point is at St. Mark’s Church,142 Market St.

“Everyone (has) the option of walking the three miles, which is a loop, or you could do it twice if you wanted six miles,” she said.

“We invite all the churches, but not all of the churches actively participate. Some churches participate at a much greater level than other churches. Some churches just have one walker, and then other churches might have their whole youth group come out,” Aichner said.

Aichner joked that the number of walkers depends on what time the Eagles game is scheduled. On the average about 50 people participate. They in turn get people to sponsor them in order to raise funds for the event.

“It goes towards feeding programs-75 percent of it goes to Church World Service to help with global hunger and 25 percent of it stays here in our community,” Aichner said.

“We don’t keep that 25 percent with United Churches. We actually distribute it among the feeding programs. We’re one of the recipients, but then we also send it to one of the groups in Jersey Shore-this year,we chose the New Love Center in Jersey Shore. We’re doing the Son-Light House in Muncy, and we’ll alternate that with Footprints in Montgomery next year, and then the American Rescue Workers here locally. But we’ve also given to Sojourner Truth for their feeding program. We’ve given to the Salvation Army for their feeding program,” she explained.

And with the cost of groceries increasing, Aichner emphasized that the number of people needing help is increasing.

“There’s tremendous need now…you know how expensive food is, how expensive it is just to create one meal for your family. I think ground beef, which used to be cheap when we were kids, is seven or $8 a pound,” she said.

“There’s tremendous need. We rely a lot on donations. So maybe the Smith family didn’t need food two years ago, they were doing okay, and in fact, maybe the Smith family donated towards our food pantry. Well, now they don’t have the money to donate, because all of their extra is going towards their living expenses. Imagine the ones that are living on fixed incomes, where their income is not going up nearly as fast as the expenses that they’re incurring,” she added.

Aichner noted that the United Churches’ Food Pantry recently moved to 520 West Fourth St., where the Shepherd of the Streets is located. Because of the two ministries in one spot, people can now get food and hygiene and prescription needs all at one place. The number served has increased.

“The numbers have increased drastically. As you know, one of the biggest barriers that the population we serve face is transportation. So that doesn’t mean just because our numbers are going up this month, it doesn’t mean the need wasn’t there last month. It means that a lot of those people couldn’t get to where we were. They have to make choices of what they can access. And now that we have our ministries under one roof, it’s kind of like a one stop shop.

To participate in this CROP Walk, individuals can with sign up at their church of if there church isn’t participating, they can get the materials with on the website: crophungerwalk.org or at the United Churches of Lycoming County office, located at New Covenant United Church of Christ, 202 East Third St.