The eight congregations of the Kirkland Interfaith Network will celebrate the 30th anniversary of the first Kirkland CROP Hunger Walk on May 16.

In 1985, 260 people of different faiths took to the streets of Kirkland to raise money to address the problem of hunger. Almost $6,800 was raised that year for Church World Service, the national sponsor of the CROP walk program, money that went for disaster relief and development assistance to alleviate the crisis of hunger in the developing world. Church World Service is an ecumenical organization, with the support of many denominations, a good fit for this interfaith group.

Over the years, the devoted walkers of the Kirkland Interfaith Network (KIN) have raised $280,000 to address the challenges of hungry people everywhere, with $45,000 going for local hunger relief through Hopelink, which provides our local food bank at its Kirkland/Northshore Center. The Kirkland CROP Hunger Walk also evolved into the CROP Hunger Work-Walk, combining a traditional fundraising walk with a two hour work party at the food bank, sorting the food that is collected by the Letter Carriers’ Food Drive the previous Saturday.

The walk will be held this year on the new Cross Kirkland Corridor, starting at Hopelink, and walking three miles on the corridor and through downtown, to end with a lunch at St. John’s Episcopal Church.

The public is invited to participate. To walk or donate, simply register on the CROP Walk website, cropwalk.org, for the Kirkland CROP Hunger Work-Walk. Online fundraising is easy. Use social networks to spread the word about the effort, and then meet the group at at 11:30 a.m. at Hopelink’s Kirkland/Northshore Center, located at 11011 120th Ave. NE.

We’ll help you get back to your car after lunch. The work party is a lot of fun and starts at 9:15 a.m., but the number of participants is limited, so please contact KIN first (info@kirklandinterfaith.net or 425-822-7084) to be sure there are accommodations.

The Kirkland Interfaith Network is a group of eight Kirkland congregations: Holy Family Parish, Holy Spirit Lutheran, Kirkland Congregational (United Church of Christl, the Kirkland Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ Latter-Day Saints, Lake Washington Christian (Disciples of Christ), Lake Washington United Methodist, Northlake Unitarian Universalist, and St. John’s Episcopal.

More information about KIN can be found at www.kirklandinterfaith.net.