Funds raised at the 2009 Lehighton Interfaith Fellowship (LIFE) Crop Hunger Walk recently were disbursed, with Church World Services receiving 75 percent and the Lehighton Trinity Pantry receiving one-fourth of the total raised.

The event raised $3,470 and a grant of $500 from Carbon County Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans making the total $3,970.The local funds will be used to purchase food items to stock the shelves at the Lehighton Trinity Pantry.The Crop Hunger Walk helps fight hunger and poverty around the world through Church World Services' relief and development programs.The Lehighton Trinity Pantry is located at Trinity evangelical Church, 174 S. Third St., Lehighton and serves over 400 families a month. The pantry is also part of Shepherd House Inc., Carbon County's Food Distribution System.At the walk held in 2009, there were 121 walkers representing the following churches, All Saint's Episcopal, Ben Salem United Church of Christ, Dinkey Memorial Lutheran Church, First Presbyterian, Grace/Zion Lutheran, St. Matthew's Lutheran, St. Paul's Lutheran, Weissport; Ss. Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Trinity evangelical Church and Zion United Church of Christ.During the walk, LIFE received donations of water for walkers from Giant Food Stores and apples from Trinity Lutheran Church.The 2010 Crop Hunger Walk will be held on Oct. 10 at the Lehigh Canal Park at Weissport. Registration starts at 1 p.m. and the walk starts at 2 p.m. Persons can walk one mile or four miles.Funds from the walk will again be split between Church World Services, 75 percent; and Lehighton Food Pantry, 25 percent."We are seeing more and more families each month," said Long.She said that she was proud to be able to offer families laundry detergent and bath soap this month, thanks to a donation from Diakon Kathryn's Closet funding."Laundry detergent is a high priced item for families," said Long. "We are so pleased to be able to offer these supplies."