MIFFLINTOWN — Some folks run for the medal. Some run for the T-shirt. In Juniata County, you run–or walk, or shuffle, or push a stroller–so somebody else can eat. That’s the real prize at the 53rd annual Juniata County CROP 5K Hunger Walk/Run, on Sunday, Oct. 12, at Walker Township Park in Mifflintown.

Registration is at 1:30 p.m. The walk starts at 2 p.m. The finish line? It’s not a ribbon. It’s a little less hunger in the world, and, if you’re lucky, a cup of chocolate milk from the Dairy Promotion Committee for your trouble.

Back in 1972, Richard Nixon was president, gas was 55 cents a gallon, and local pastors in the Juniata County Ministerium decided they’d had enough of watching hunger win. So they started walking. Every year since, someone’s carried the torch, sometimes literally, sometimes with a clipboard and a sign-up sheet.

“We’ve kept this going because it gives churches across denominations a chance to demonstrate our unity in Christ and a way to address hunger issues, here and worldwide,” said Graham Fowler, one of the organizers of the event. “It wouldn’t work without all the volunteers who plan and implement the event year after year.”

The CROP Walk involves church folks and high schoolers, grandmas and Cub Scouts. It’s the Juniata County Business and Professional Women laying out the snacks, Merf Radio’s Matt Witzel spinning tunes, and the kind of neighborly spirit you don’t find in most places or on most Sunday afternoons.

“It shows people in our county have a heart for others, not just here, but also in places they’ll never visit,” Fowler said.

The cause is plain: hunger is real, and it’s right here. One in 10 Pennsylvanians doesn’t know where their next meal is coming from. And while the CROP Walk sends money around the globe through Church World Service–fighting hunger, poverty, and disaster far from here–it also keeps plenty close to home. Meals on Wheels, the Juniata County Food Pantry: they’re both on the receiving end, getting thousands of dollars a year, plus box after box of non-perishable food.

But ask Fowler, and he’ll tell you the money isn’t even the best part. “A lot of people and congregations already give food or donate,” he said. “But seeing so many others from different churches and organizations all coming together for the same cause–that is what encourages people to get more involved. It shows how important the cause is.”

If you want to join in, there are two ways. You can register online at (http://www.crophungerwalk.org/mifflintownpa) or show up at Walker Township Park on the day of. Bring your friends, your grandma, or even your dog.

The only real requirements are a willingness to move forward for a couple of miles and a desire to see a little less hunger in the world. Oh, and if you raise $125, you get a T-shirt–a shirt you can wear the rest of the year as a walking billboard for the cause.

This year, Fowler and company are hoping for 120 walkers and runners, give or take a few strollers, scooters, and maybe one determined retiree with a walker. The goal is simple, but it matters: a big turnout means more money, more awareness, and more help for the people who need it.

The event’s roots run deep. The Crop Project started back in 1947, when American farmers sent food and seed to neighbors in Europe and Asia after the devastation of World War II. By 1969, it turned into something even more personal, walks, held in small towns and big cities, ordinary people turning footsteps into real, practical help for others.

“The CROP Walk gives people in Juniata County a concrete way to address hunger, both locally and around the world,” Fowler said. “It reminds us we’re called to love all our neighbors, not only the ones next door.”

And while some fundraisers can feel old, the CROP Walk keeps getting younger. “Youth and young adults have a strong desire to address the needs and inequalities they see,” Fowler said. “Over the next 10 years, I think the walk will keep growing in its appeal to them, because it gives them a real, hands-on way to help.”

Will this solve hunger for good? Not today, maybe never. But every footstep, every dollar, every can of soup dropped in a bin is a nudge in the right direction. As Fowler puts it, “Hunger is one of the greatest injustices facing our world, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Ending hunger is possible in our lifetime.”

So if you can walk, you can help. If you can run, you can help. And if you can show up for an hour or two on a Sunday afternoon–you’ll be part of a 53-year-old Juniata tradition that’s still worth lacing up for.

And don’t be surprised if, somewhere between the starting line and the snack table, you start to believe you can change the world. One step at a time.