Special to the Sun

The 10th annual “Friends of the Poor Walk” will be held at College Park from 9 to 11 a.m. Saturday. The walk is sponsored by the Winchester conference of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society which is one of the oldest and most effective charitable organizations in the world. Currently, there are over 800,000 members in 44,600 conferences worldwide who provide “person-to-person” help to the poor and needy in 150 countries on five continents.

In the United States alone, there are about 150,000 members spread over 4,441 conferences. The “Friends of the Poor Walk” was first started in 2008 in the US to support local projects run by each conference.

The Winchester conference, at St. Joseph parish, uses the funds raised to stock their food pantry which serves 60 to 90 families each month. “In our first walk back in 2008,” walk co-chairman Rich Gomez said, “We raised about $4,000.” Last year with the efforts of over 30 walkers, over $17,000 was raised. Gomez said he hopes to meet or beat last year’s totals by getting the word out and contacting more than 180 corporate sponsors in the Winchester area, making them aware of our mission.

The keynote speaker at this year’s walk will be Ginny Ramsey, co-director of the new Catholic Action Center in Lexington. The Center is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week and offers both day and night shelter, free meals, as well as a host of special programming & services.

If it rains, walkers can go to the College Park gym where there is an indoor track. People can show up at College Park to donate or register to participate in the walk. Walkers will be given a free t-shirt. For more information, go to the website fopwalk.org/eventlisting (Select “Kentucky” on the drop-down list).