Juniata County officials recognize Hunger Action Week

MIFFLINTOWN -- Juniata County Commissioners recognized Hunger Action Week during the board's weekly meeting on Tuesday.

The board issued a proclamation, honoring the week of Oct. 2-8, as well as a proclamation recognizing September 2023 as Hunger Action Month in Juniata County.

Also during the meeting, Graham Fowler, pastor of the Lost Creek Presbyterian Church, in McAlisterville, was in attendance and discussed the upcoming CROP Walk, which will hold its 51st event on Oct. 8 at Walker Township Park.

Registration for the event begins at 1:30 p.m. and the walk begins at 2 p.m. The walk is 5 kilometers in length.

The CROP Walk started by Church World Service in the 1940s to address hunger issues around the world. The program began when farmers in the midwest were looking for ways to help farmers in Europe and Asia whose farms had been devastated by World War II, Fowler said.

Church World Service started CROP as a way to help farmers ship grain to Europe and Asia. The idea of a CROP walk started in 1969 in Bismarck, North Dakota when a group of young people challenged each other to walk 20 miles in solidarity with the poor. They also asked friends and family to send money to Church World Services to support hunger ministries around the world. In 1970 the first walk officially called the CROP Walk for Hunger was held in York County. In 1973, the Rev. Robert Plant of Port Royal brought the CROP Walk to Juniata County.

Over the last 50 years the Walk in Juniata County has raised more than $550,000 to support hunger ministries of Church World Services, of which more than $70,000 has remained in Juniata County supporting the Juniata Meals on Wheels program and the Juniata County Food Pantry.

Commissioners also gave an update on the Emergency Operations Center renovation project that is expected to be done by the end of 2023.

In other news Commissioners took the following action:

• Approved the use of the County Records Improvement Fund to purchase one Ubiquiti UniFi Building to Building Bridge XG Network Antenna at a cost not to exceed $1,103.64 as recommended by S. James Bahorik, County Administrator on behalf of the County Commissioners Office;

• Approved the following Purchase of Service Agreements between Juniata County Children and Youth Services, the Juniata County Probation Department and the entities listed. The term of each contract is July 1, through June 30, 2024 unless otherwise noted.

• Approved the submission of the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency Detection & Mitigation of COVID-19 in Confinement Facilities grant application as recommended by Lisa Stalnaker, Grants Writer. The grant, which will run from Aug. 1, 2022 through July 31, 2024, is for a total amount of $55,296;

• Ratify the submission of the "State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program (SLCGP) - Intrusion Detection Service MS-ISAC Albert Sensors" grant application. The term of the grant is for Oct. 1, through Nov. 30, 2026.