Walk for Hunger returns with socially distanced format

Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry fundraiser will feature car parade, solo walks and other ways to support food pantry

Fred McCormick
The Valley Echo
October 5, 2020

Around 500 area residents participated in the Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry Walk for Hunger in 2019. The event, which raised $50,000 for the nonprofit organization’s food pantry, will return Oct. 11 with a car parade. Photo courtesy of Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry

Every year, on the second Sunday of October, hundreds of people gather to raise awareness of a crucial issue in the community and support the nonprofit organization dedicated to addressing it.

The annual Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry Walk for Hunger will return to the upper parking lot of the First Baptist Church of Black Mountain at noon, Sunday, Oct. 11, with a new format adapted specifically for 2020. 

The fall fundraiser is the primary event supporting the ministry’s food pantry, which served hundreds of local households in the Valley. In 2019, nearly 500 people showed up for the mile walk, raising around $50,000 for SVCM. This year, the goal is to collect $120,000, with 10 percent of the money raised going to Bounty & Soul and Food Connection. 

“Needs will rise,” said SVCM Executive Director Cheryl Wilson. “When COVID-19 first hit, in those first few weeks, we were knocked off of our feet. People needed food, and then three months later there was an increase in the maximum allowance of food stamps, so it leveled off. Lately, we’ve been seeing the numbers pick up again.”

The pandemic forced the ministry, which shares an affiliation with more than 30 Swannanoa Valley churches, to modify its food pantry program. Clients submit lists of grocery items they need every 21 days and SVCM staff and volunteers fill the orders. 

“One thing a lot of people don’t realize is that we try to also provide non-food items,” Wilson said. “We’ve been giving out toilet paper throughout the pandemic and just recently we ran out for the first time, so we had to go buy some to keep our shelves stocked. We’ve also been trying to keep pet food here, because that’s a big expense.”

The pantry served an average of 365 Valley households each month in 2019, according to Wilson. 

Walkers participate in the 2019 Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry Walk for Hunger. The annual fundraiser will return this Sunday. Courtesy of Swannanoa Valley Christian Ministry

“People don’t realize that there are so many families and individuals who struggle,” she said. “N.C. is one of top 10 hungriest states in the country, and Western North Carolina, specifically, is very hungry. Here in the Valley we have elderly residents who live on fixed incomes, people on disability and the working poor.”

While the COVID-19 pandemic made the traditional format of the Hunger Walk impossible this year, organizers are offering a variety of ways to support the food pantry. Food and monetary donations can dropped off at the SVCM booth this Saturday, and a car parade will get underway at 1 p.m.

“People can also find sponsors and do their own walk that day, or any other day,” Wilson said. “We encourage people to go out and walk on one of the local greenways or go for a hike.”

Participants are encouraged to make signs and wear their favorite Walk for Hunger t-shirts from previous years.

Monetary donations can be submitted through svcmblackmountain.org/walk-for-hunger.html. Checks with the word “Walk” in the memo line can be mailed to PO Box 235, Black Mountain, N.C. 28711.