CHURCH WORLD SERVICES A brief history

People of all ages took part in Sunday’s annual 1- and 5-mile CROP walks, which began at Unitarian Universalist Church on Youngstown’s North Side, to raise funds to help eradicate hunger locally and globally. The yearly CROP walk is a major part of CWS, which formed shortly after World War II. A look back:

Church World Services began in 1946 with 17 denominations that were committed to feeding people who were hungry and helping those in need.

Within a year, many American churches collectively provided more than 11 million pounds of food, clothing and medical supplies to war-torn Asia and Europe.

Soon after the first CROP walks, “friendship trains” began to travel through the country picking up staples such as corn, beans, rice and wheat to be shared around the world.

Through the 1950s and ’60s, CWS expanded its reach to include Latin America and Africa.

In the 1970s, the organization started to respond to U.S. disasters.

A handful of accomplishments include engaging in a four-year project in which 20 million forest and fruit trees were planted to protect a section of Algeria from steady erosion, helping to dig wells, build reservoirs and lay irrigation systems and, in 1976, setting up offices in the U.S. to help resettle refugees from Southeast Asia after the Vietnam War.

Source: Church World Services