For the 26th year, the annual Chapel Hill-Carrboro CROP Walk for Hunger will step off at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 25, from the Carrboro Town Commons.

As walkers gather (about 500 expected), the Bull City Strutters will provide music and other entertainment will include a silent auction with a chance to win a UNC basketball signed by Coach Roy Williams. All walkers will be entered in a drawing for a Bob Timberlake print

Those who have not registered previously should arrive about 1:30 p.m. for registration. Those who cannot tackle the 4-mile walk may choose to do the 1-mile track. Dogs and strollers are welcome.

Walkers are invited to return to the Commons at the end of the walk for refreshments.

The Inter-Faith Council for Social Service is the local sponsor of the event that is sponsored nationally by Church World Service, a 65-year-old agency that addresses the problem of hunger and poverty around the world.

In the past, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Walk has raised about $50,000 each year. Of that amount, 25 percent is kept in the local community and is used by the Inter-Faith Council to address hunger needs here at home. The remainder goes to Church World Service, which has ongoing projects around the world.

Often referred to as the “Granddaddy of Walkathons,” CROP Walks were the first in the U.S. to use this technique to raise funds to drum up support for worthy causes, said Shannon Gigliotti, a former coordinator of the walk in Chapel Hill-Carrboro.

CROP Walks here in North Carolina have enjoyed continuing support from Tar Heels who have shown clear compassion for the world’s hungry people, said Joe Moran, Regional Director for CWS in the Southeast USA.

Next Sunday, the Rev. John McCullough, executive director of CWS from the national office, will be in Durham to take part in the Bull City’s annual walk that has ranked as the third largest CROP Hunger Walk in the nation for the past decade. Durham has raised more than $3.5 million for global and local hunger since its walk began in 1975.

CROP walkers often say, “We walk because they walk,” referring to the fact that many people around the world have to walk great distances every day for food and water, regardless of the weather. So you can expect the show to go on today, rain or shine, cold or warm.

“We walk because they walk.”