Walkers from around the county will gather Sunday, Sept. 28, at the Houston Senior Citizens Center (on Grand Avenue in downtown Houston) to participate in the “Texas County Stomp Out Hunger Walk.”
Each walker is asked to collect donations from friends and family and bring the funds on the day of the walk. All monies collected will be divided between the Texas County Food Pantry (which serves Houston, Cabool, Summersville, Raymondville and other area communities) and the United Community Help Center in Licking.
The Hunger Walk’s goal is to raise money for these local food pantries, which serve more than 600 families each month with commodities and senior food boxes. All money collected will be placed in an account specifically for this purpose at the Community Foundation of the Ozarks (CFO) – a non-profit organization based in Springfield – and then dispersed to the food pantries. CFO will mail receipts to donors who want them for tax purposes.
There will be one- and three-mile walk routes around downtown Houston. Registration is at 1:30 p.m., with the walk beginning at 2 p.m. Bottled water and refreshments will be available to walkers, and a traveling trophy will be awarded to the walker who collects the most donations.
“We hope we get good support from communities in our county,” said an event spokesperson. “People of all ages need extra help to stretch their food budgets. There’s no reason people from Texas County should ever go hungry.”
Walkers may obtain donation envelopes and more information about the hunger walk from Alice Wells by calling 417-967-2495. Licking residents can call Paul Meier at 573-674-3411.