For the 31st year, the Renton CROP Hunger Walk will raise money to help end hunger locally and worldwide.

This year’s event is Sunday, May 4, starting at the Liberty Park shelter and progressing down the Cedar River Trail – at a distance of your choice.

The full walk is six miles, all the way to the Ron Regis Park. Or there’s the Golden 1.5-mile Walk or participants can set their own distance.

Sharon Kenyon again serves as the CROP Walk co-coordinator.

Walkers can sign up through their participating church or organization, at the walk or online. Those under 18 will need a parent’s signature on the form or a parent’s permission online, according to Kenyon.

Strollers, wagons and wheelchairs are the only wheels permitted.

The goal of the 31st year of the walk is to  raise more than $31,000, Kenyon said.

In the last 30 years, Renton’s walk has raised more than $533,000 and contributed more than $133,000 helping Renton food agencies. Last year, Renton made the top 100 for the fifth time, being 57th out of over 1,400 walks across the country, raising nearly $34,000.

Registration for the walks this year is 1 p.m.-1:25 p.m. on May 4 at Liberty Park. The walks are 1:30 p.m.-4 p.m. on the Cedar River Trail.

Runners start first.

• The 10K/6-mile walk heads east along Cedar River Trail, to Ron Regis Park and then returns. Checkpoints along the way have snacks, drinks, phones, first-aid kits and rides back.

• The “Golden 1.5-Mile Walk” is from the Liberty Park Shelter east to the first checkpoint at Riverview Park Shelter. Rides back are available at all checkpoints.

The Renton CROP Hunger Walk is sponsored by the REACH (Renton Ecumenical Association of Churches). It’s a program of Church World Service (CWS).

CROP donation envelopes are available for CROP Hunger Walk volunteers and walkers. There are other donation options available, too.

Seventy-five percent of the money raised goes to fight hunger globally, and the rest stays in the local community.

Locally, assistance is provided to:

• The Salvation Army Renton Rotary Food Bank.

• ARISE (Area of Renton Interfaith Shelter Endeavor), providing food and shelter for about 20 homeless men in the Renton area, and helping to place men in permanent housing.

• The Margie Williams Helping Hands, providing food Saturday mornings at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Baptist Church.

• St Vincent de Paul Food Bank, providing nonperishable large food sacks and also lunch sacks at St Anthony Church.  They deliver food sacks when needed.

• Center of Hope, providing a day center at Renton City Hall and night shelter at churches for homeless women and children.  This includes boys 12 and older, so families can stay together.

For more information on the walk or to sign up online, visit the group’s website.

For new groups wishing to participate, or for any questions, contact Sharon Kenyon at 425-271-2080.