We've Made The Big Time! (Well, at least caught the attention of Step-By-Step Fundraising in New York)

The article by Alicia Petska for the News-Virginian caught the eye of Abigail Beal, who writes for the internet think tank, Step-By-Step Fundraising.com, and she contacted us to find out more about our Walk AND to find out the "secret to our success." The interview was conducted with Randy and Jan over the phone and the resulting article has been posted at http://charitymile.com/blog/33rd-annual-crop-walk-scheduled-for-waynesboro-virginia-september-30th/.

Here is an excerpt:

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“Before us, people have been interested in keeping the CROP walk going during lean times. I became involved in doing the CROP walk fifteen years ago. One woman was involved in the CROP walk and she sent out a postcard and she said ‘We have one last shot to do a crop walk’ and everyone showed up. So there have been people that have kept it going. Now we are on the steering committee responsible for keeping it going,” said Lohr.

They had a challenging time with their 30th Anniversary CROP walk. “Hurricane Katrina hit and fundraising was quite difficult. Last year’s walk realized most of its goals: it had 300 walkers and raised $32,000. We try to increase the goal and the challenge every year,” said Lohr. With this year’s CROP walk they expect to raise between $30,000 – 32,000.

Both Lohr and Tobias explain that having a dedicated committee makes the event successful. They are pleased with the success of the event but they are always looking to build and are open to adding more committee members, more volunteers that are enthusiastic about the Waynesboro-East Augusta CROP Hunger Walk. “It’s just an event that has a lot of coherence, it’s an event that a lot of people can do. It is an expression of the church and it succeeds in that way as well. I just happened to be an individual taken with that concept and planning it. We are always looking for people who have that passion for it,” said Lohr. Lohr explains that Steering Committee members cannot leave the committee unless they have ‘tapped’ someone to be groomed to replace them.

“It is important to have the long term continuity. But keeping our eyes out for and looking for new people like we were. As we’ve thought about it, this has not been an unbroken success. I’m sure we are not going to be number one in the state every year. We are always encouraging new members in the steering committee, new people in the CROP walk,” said Tobias.

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So, as you might guess, there is no real "secret to our success," at least not in any strategy or gimmick that we might employ to bolster the amount of money we've raised. Rather, it's a matter of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. And I believe we know Who to thank for that!