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Annual Hunger Walk is Saturday

Hunger Coalition Financial Secretary Dick Ranges and his wife Barbara are once again organizing the annual Hunger Walk for the Henderson County Hunger Coalition.

What is the Hunger Walk?

The Hunger Walk is an opportunity to raise money for eleven major food pantry operations providing emergency food supplies in Henderson County, and for people to show their support in a very public and healthy way. Pledges and donations are collected in advance by those walking, and on the morning of Sept. 17 participants gather, stroll through some of Hendersonville’s greenways and historic neighborhoods, and later share food and refreshments donated by local merchants.
This will be the 16th consecutive walk that Dick Ranges has helped organize as part of the Henderson County Hunger Coalition. He serves on the board as financial secretary, and says that he and his wife, Barbara, resettled in western North Carolina from the Chicago area with an eye on giving back. “We wanted to serve in the community, and make some impact. That’s the way we decided we’d like to spend our retirements.”
Ranges heard about the Hunger Coalition at a local Methodist church soon after arriving. “Frankly, the mission of this organization really touched me,” he says. “Food to needy families and individuals who are facing emergency crisis situations in our county. To me, there was a big need for folks to step up and help.”
A cancer diagnosis, and subsequent treatment earlier this year, has not kept Ranges from his duties preparing for the coalition’s main fundraising event. “There still is that need,” he says, “that seems to not really lessen much.”
Agencies seeking funds from the Hunger Coalition re-apply each year, so Ranges hears about the needs (“One out of four children in the county living in poverty.”) and can also make sure that funds are applied “to do the most good in terms of our mission, emergency food supplies,” he says.
“One of the big changes that we’ve seen is for programs providing food for the county’s children during the summer when the school programs are not in operation. A number of our agencies have gotten into taking care of that.”
Ranges recalls the selflessness of a then-six-year-old named Janielynn Fowler, raising awareness and funds for the hunger problem from her friends and the community, and honored at the Hunger Walk in 2014. “Individuals can make a big difference, and individuals and communities who band together to support emergency food needs can really make a difference,” the 75-year-old Ranges smiles.
“Everyone’s got talents,” he says. “It’s kind of a test sometimes to find what those talents are and then to do something with them that’s helpful, in service to others – which I think is very important.”

SHIRTTAIL

The 2016 Hunger Walk takes place on Saturday, Sept. 17. The event offers walkers options of five or ten-mile walks through Hendersonville’s historic neighborhoods, as well as 1- and 2-mile “Fun Walks” for the more short-distance trekkers. Registration begins at Shelter #1 in Jackson Park at 8 a.m. and the walk is at 8:30. Participants will receive a 2016 Hunger Walk T-shirt, and food and refreshments will be served. Interested walkers can also pick up pledge envelopes and information at the reception area at Mud Creek Baptist Church, 403 Rutledge Drive. For more information contact Pat Fisher at 828-693-4940 or lefpfisher@yahoo.com.