Winston-Salem, NC – Children at St. Andrews Day Care Center, in Winston-Salem, did their small part to end world hunger. Armed with blankets and posters, these young children held their own CROP Hunger Walk. At the end of the Walk, they presented a check for $386.47 to Sandy McCutchan, coordinator of the Forsyth County CROP Hunger Walk. The donation was enough for Church World Service to purchase 77 blankets for children displaced by natural disaster or violence, almost twice the children’s original goal of 40 blankets.

The young children in Frances Hester’s day care class have been learning about sharing, love, giving selflessly, and hunger awareness. “A blanket is often a young child’s most valuable possession,” said Frances. “What better way to show them the importance of giving then to put it in terms they understand.” The children created a display of pictures and blankets, made posters, and talked about blankets. When the students were asked why some children didn’t have a blanket, they mentioned floods, hurricanes, and not enough money to buy a blanket.

The young children all agreed that they would be sad if they didn’t have a blanket. They didn’t want other children to be sad, so the students put a basket in their display and asked family and friends to help them buy blankets for other children.

Margaret Anderson, the center’s director, was inspired by the efforts of the children and staff. “It’s exciting to see that these young children have made a difference in our world. I’d like to challenge other day care centers to join our children in the ‘Blanket Brigade” to help even more children.” Organizers of the 2007 CROP Hunger Walk are also inspired. They hope these children will help to illustrate the importance of helping others around the world.

The 2007 CROP Hunger Walk will be held on October 21, at 2:00 p.m. at Corpening Plaza in downtown Winston-Salem, at Fourth of July Park in Kernersville, Tanglewood Park in Clemmons and at Walkertown Civic Park. Contributions from the walk support Crisis Control Ministry, Sunnyside Ministry and Church World Service.

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The fall issue of the Carolina Communion newsletter is available here on the website.

Carolina Communion (pdf file - 833 Kb)

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The demands of disasters like Hurricane Katrina, the Pakistan earthquake, and more recent events including floods in Jakarta, Indonesia, and spring storms and flooding in the U.S. are taking a toll on inventories of one of the staples of relief aid– emergency kits. The drain is prompting international humanitarian agency Church World Service (CWS) to issue a call nationally, specifically for contributions of children's school kits.

More Information

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• Visit the CWS Tools & Blankets Resources page for graphics, skits and other materials to liven up your Tools & Blankets event.

• Order materials online or phone our national service center, 1-800-297-1516

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