Starting a CROP Hunger Walk at the University of Connecticut has been both a thrilling and frightening experience. I wanted to get involved because I truly believe in the cause; that there is enough food for all in this world. There is nothing better a person can do than to help those in need and I am fortunate to have this opportunity and lead the students of UConn.
For me, leading the students in the UConn CROP Hunger Walk is a challenge all in itself. Getting the walk noticed, getting the walk confirmed by the school, getting walkers involved and committed. It is a never ending task but a task that is for the greater good. What scares me is when people do not take me seriously because I am a student. On the other hand what thrills me is purely taking action. I have never been a leader of anything besides a summer camp for 5th and 6th graders so taking on the task, the opportunity, to lead my peers is exciting. I want to inspire them in any way that I can. Even if it is just one person who begins to feel as passionate as I do about the CROP Hunger Walk, it will all be worth it.
I think students have a lot more passion than society believes. It is because society cannot see their passion. Students have this inner need to change the world because they know how messed up it really is. They want to protest, they want to fight, they want to do something! Students do not generally have the opportunity to actually change the world because no one will take them seriously. Society believes students are too young to make change but the truth is we are driven and optimistic and isn’t that what passion is made of? Isn’t that what creates change? Being driven, optimistic, and passionate? The CROP Hunger Walk is an opportunity for change. We can make a difference, and we can do it together.
The UConn CROP Hunger Walk means raising as much money as we can for CWS and our local allocation: the Covenant Soup Kitchen. CWS is doing something great here. They are creating sustainable lives for those who are hungry every day. They are creating ways to have easier access to water so that people do not have to walk ten miles every day, carrying heavy buckets on their shoulders. We are walking because they are walking. I love the concept of putting yourself in someone else’s shoes. I have to remind myself that is why I am helping with this walk because I can easily stray from the stress of getting everything together. But if I put my mind to it and remember how many people we will be helping through the CROP Hunger Walk than this walk CAN be achieved.
Maybe we can prove that college students can make a difference, if you just let them.
By Rececca Hasko, UConn Interfaith CROP Hunger Walk Student Leader