Coordinator Role: Crop Walk

CROP Hunger Walks are community-wide events sponsored by Church World Service and organized by local volunteers to raise funds to end hunger. In our area, the walk is run by the Inter-faith Council for Social Service.  The walk is a four-mile stroll along the streets of Chapel Hill and Carrboro and through the UNC campus, to held in this year on Sunday, April 24th. Shorter routes are also available. In 2015, the Kehillah raised over $1,200 and there is an opportunity to raise more in 2016.   A significant portion of the money raised is used to address hunger in our local community.

We are looking for a volunteer or two to coordinate the effort for 2016.   A detailed description of what needs to be done is below.  If you’d like to join this committee or participate in / donate to the walk, please contact Ava Nackman via email at ava AT nackman DOT com.

Annual Crop Hunger Walk Coordinator Job Description

  1. If desired, recruit a small committee to work on this with you, but not required.
  2. The walk generally takes place on a Sunday in March.
  3. Earlier on in the year meet with the Religious School Director, Sherri Morris, to explore how the upcoming walk might dovetail with the religious school curriculum and to brainstorm some ways in which the students can be appropriately involved in the walk (making posters, collecting donations, etc.).  Sherri and the religious school instructors will take the lead in these efforts, possibly with your assistance where appropriate (for example, you could do a brief presentation to some of the classes about walking shortly before the event)
  4. The Kehillah’s IFC Liaison, Ava Nackman, will be informed of details for the upcoming walk at IFC Liaison Meetings some months ahead of the walk.  She will pass on information, contacts, meeting dates, information/publicity materials, and any other details to you in a timely manner.  There is also a page with details about the walk on the IFC website:  http://www.ifcweb.org/events/crop-walk
  5. There will be a meeting of all Crop Walk coordinators some weeks before the walk, which you or a committee member should attend.
  6. Approximately two months before the walk, begin publicity effort.
    1. A Team Kehillah page for online donations should be created on the  Church World Service website:  http://hunger.cwsglobal.org/  Locate the NC-Chapel Hill-Carrboro walk, sign up and create the page, and then have a link to this page on all materials and publicity done for the walk.
    2. Some type of flier outlining walk specifics and registration/donation information should be created and posted on the Social Action bulletin board and distributed at services, events, and as a religious school handout.
    3. This information should also be given to Stephanie and the Social Action co-chairs, Ava and Lee Nackman, for inclusion in weekly Kehillah emails,  the bi-monthly print newsletter, on the social action page of the Kehillah website, on the Kehillah Facebook page, read during service announcements, etc.
  7. As people sign up to participate in the walk online, send them a quick confirmation email.
  8. Beginning a couple of weeks before the walk, it would be very helpful if you and/or a committee member could stand outside the religious school for 15 minutes during student drop-off and/or pickup and hand out fliers and talk up the event to parents.  This has been found to be very effective in the past at increasing attendance at the event.  Collecting donations if actual attendance is not possible is also useful — perhaps set up a card table with informational material and a donation box.
  9. A large sign on a stake identifying the Kehillah walkers has been created (currently stored in the Nackman home and will be given to you), but a nicer banner or nametags/smaller signs for walkers can be created if you desire (perhaps the banner could be a project in the religious school?).  Totally optional.
  10. A couple of weeks before the event, give Stephanie and the Social Action co-chairs information on when and roughly where Kehillah walkers should meet before the walk so that this can be publicized.  Email the same information to those who have registered online with Team Kehillah.  Traditionally, some walkers have met an hour before the event, weather permitting, at Weaver Street in Carrboro for lunch and socializing.  This is totally optional.  Asking people to look for the Kehillah sign near the registration table is fine.
  11. While most people will register and donate online or at the registration table at the event, a few will collect donations from friends.  Collect all such donations in an envelope before the walk and get it to the appropriate Crop Walk representative at the registration table, ensuring that these donations are credited to the Kehillah.  Keep a list of all people walking.
  12. After the event send a thank you email to all those who walked and/or donated, and also provide a list of these individuals to Stephanie for further recognition.
  13. Give the Social Action co-chairs feedback and suggestions for improving the process/turnout for the following year.