At a recent event, Hunger Hike announced the 2021 Honorary Co-chair — Nathan Walker, Purdue Rowing & Crew Team head coach.
Coach Walker was named head coach in July. He is a Purdue alumnus and before returning to Purdue most recently led the rowing program at Culver Academies. {Pictured L to R: Duane Sellers, St. Thomas Aquinas Haiti Ministry; Coach Nathan Walker; Katy Bunder, CEO/president, Food Finders Food Bank, Inc.; and Wes Tillett, LUM executive director.}
Coach Walker shared that he is excited about Hunger Hike for three reason. First, the event raises money for vital food and nutrition programs and support. Second, as a Purdue student he participated in Hunger Hike and is honored to return in this new role. And lastly, he is proud to continue the tradition of engaging the Purdue rowing athletes in Hunger Hike, started by his former coach and predecessor, Coach Dave Kucik. Wes Tillett, LUM executive director, is thrilled that Coach Walker supports Hunger Hike, and the Purdue student athletes will continue to play an important role in the kick-off event on Riehle Plaza on Sunday, September 19.
On December 23, the Purdue Women’s Basketball team hosted their annual Holiday Bash. Fans were invited to wear their ugly Christmas sweaters, meet Santa Claus, and participate in “Teddy Toss.”
During halftime of the game, Boilermaker fans threw hundreds of new stuffed animals onto the court. It was a fun holiday frenzy for a few minutes. All of the stuffed animals were then donated to LUM. Since then, the stuffed animals have either been distributed to the children of clients or incorporated into the LUM After School Program.
Last week, LUM Executive Director, Joe Micon, distributed the checks to the benefactors. On hand to accept for Food Finder Food Bank, Inc. was Katy Bunder, Executive Director; and for St. Thomas Aquinas Center, Fr. Patrick Baikauskas, Pastor and Director of Campus Ministry. Hunger Hike 2014 had over 1000 organizations, businesses and individuals involved in fundraising and making donations; over 900 hikers, walkers, and runners; and over 200 volunteers engaged before, during and after the event.
Joe Micon stated that LUM will use the money to support the St. John’s/LUM Food Pantry which provides emergency food for over 2200 individuals each and every month and recently expanded its hours to include Saturdays.
Katie Bunder stated that Food Finder Food Bank will use the money to support and expand existing programs like the Mobile Food Pantry and the Back Pack Program.
St. Thomas Aquinas will use the money to support their mission work in Haiti. Several times a year St. Thomas Aquinas provides opportunities for individuals including Purdue students to travel to Haiti and to provide needed work especially efforts to purify water for drinking and introduce more efficient farming techniques. St. Thomas had the largest group of Hikers and raised the most from donations to Hikers again this year.
Joe Micon gave special recognition to the Hunger Hike Honorary Chair, Sharon Versyp, coach of the Purdue Women’s Basketball and the team for role in promoting and for their support the day of Hunger Hike. Micon also thanked David Kucik, coach of the Purdue Crew and the teams for their support and for leading Hunger Hike each year. Micon acknowledged the behind the scenes work of the the entire LUM staff.
Hunger Hike was a great success and will have a tremendous positive impact on our community and the world. LUM announced that the tradition will continue in 2015 with the next Hunger Hike on Sunday, September 20 with the HH5K Run taking place on Saturday, September 19th.
The Lafayette Urban Ministry (LUM) is an organization of churches that serves as a social safety net for Lafayette’s needy children and families. For over 40 years, LUM has worked to give back the hope, the future, and the self-respect to low-income people in the Greater Lafayette area. We take an active role in trying to change social injustices and improve the quality of life for the poor of Indiana.
Sharon Versyp is the head women’s basketball coach at Purdue University; and Dave Kucik is the head coach of the Purdue University Rowing program including the Purdue men’s & women’s Crew Teams.
Coaches Versyp and Kucik are both passionate about fighting hunger and are a great role models for us all. They both have built strong programs for their student-athletes while emphasizing the responsibility to serve the neediest in your community. They create opportunities for their student-athletes to raise awareness and more importantly raise money for important programs like Hunger Hike. They also lead by example — engaging personally in the community to have a positive impact.
Coaches Versyp and Kucik will kick off Hunger Hike with words of inspirational for the participants on Sunday, September 21 — and the Purdue women’s basketball team and the Purdue Crew Team will lead the Hunger Hikers to the trail head.
Join us for Hunger Hike — meet our Hunger Hike 2014 Co-chairs — and raise funds to feed families locally, regionally, and globally.
HH5K Run
Saturday, September 20
8 a.m. — Check In
9 a.m. — Race begins
Cumberland Park, West Lafayette, Indiana
Hunger Hike 3K Walk
Sunday, September 21
Noon — Check In
1:45 p.m. — Remarks
2 p.m. –- Hike begins
Riehle Plaza, Lafayette, Indiana
Hike to Fight Hunger
Donate Online
Hunger Hike—3K Walk Registration
HH5K Run Registration
Support a Team
Become a Sponsor
Go to www.hungerhike.org
If you have questions – call or email (765.423.2691 | hungerhike@lumserve.org)
#HungerHike
Join LUM online and help us serve children and families even better.
This morning, LUM Executive Director, Joe Micon, and Board President, Deb Parent, distributed the checks to the benefactors. On hand to accept for Food Finder Food Bank was Katie Bunder, Executive Director, and Cheryl Precious, Development Director. Also in attendance were Ron Smith, Hunger Hike director, and Eileen Weiss, LUM business manager. Hunger Hike 2012 had over 1000 organizations, businesses and individuals involved in fundraising and making donations; over 900 hikers, walkers, and runners; and over 200 volunteers engaged before, during and after the event.
Food Finders Food Bank, St. Thomas Aquinas’ Haiti Ministry and the food programs at LUM each were presented with a check for $26,095.72.
Katie Bunder stated that Food Finder Food Bank will use the money to fund the maintenance costs for storing and delivering food that are not currently covered by other organizations. It currently costs 25 cents per pound to store and distribute food and other organizations pay 19 cents. This money will cover the rest. Hunger Hike money also pays for the distribution for ripe produce which is distributed without collecting any maintenance fees. Produce supplies have increased by 400% which is positive but it costs more to distribute before it spoils. On behalf of Food Finders, Bunder stated that “we hope we can help all of greater Lafayette eat healthier because we have all of these dollars to spend on healthy, fresh food.”
St. Thomas Aquinas will use the money to support their mission work in Haiti. Several times a year St. Thomas Aquinas provides opportunities for individuals including Purdue students to travel to Haiti and to provide needed work especially efforts to purify water for drinking. Joe Micon acknowledged and thanked St. Thomas Aquinas for their work in Haiti as well as the support of Hunger Hike. St. Thomas had the largest group of Hikers and raised the most from donations to Hikers.
Joe Micon gave special recognition to the Hunger Hike Honorary Chair, Sharon Versyp, coach of the Purdue Women’s Basketball and the team for role in promoting and for their support the day of Hunger Hike. Micon also thanked David Kucik, coach of the Purdue Crew and the teams for their support and for leading Hunger Hike each year. Micon acknowledged the behind the scenes work of the LUM business manager, Eileen Weiss; and the LUM Director of the Hunger Hike Program, Ron Smith.
Hunger Hike was a great success and will have a tremendous positive impact on our community and the world. LUM announced that the tradition will continue in 2013 with the next Hunger Hike on Sunday, September 15, 2013.
The Lafayette Urban Ministry (LUM) is an organization of 42 Christian churches that serves as a social safety net for Lafayette’s needy children and families. For over 40 years, LUM has worked to give back the hope, the future, and the self-respect to low-income people in the Greater Lafayette area. We take an active role in trying to change social injustices and improve the quality of life for the poor of Indiana.
