Compassion procession

Alex Coolman

NEWPORT BEACH -- The names on the signs read like a who’s who of

Newport-Mesa and Orange County religious organizations -- names like

Temple Bat Yahm, Fairview Community Church and the Irvine United Church

of Christ.

And on Sunday afternoon, representatives from these and many other

groups picked up their signs at St. Mark Presbyterian Church and headed

out for a walk.

The event, the 12th annual United Interfaith Hunger Walk, took its

participants from St. Mark out around the Back Bay. By hoofing it about

seven kilometers, the more than 250 walkers were raising money for

charity, including five local groups, organizers said.

The distance is not enough to be difficult for most people, said event

coordinator Bob Johnston, but it is enough to require a little sweating.

“It’s a good walk,” he said.

Ted Lunde, treasurer of the event, said he hoped the event would

improve on last year’s fund-raising total of $22,000.

“This year, we hope to raise $25,000,” he said. A final tally of the

money generated will not be available until later this week.

A large chunk of that cash will go to charitable organizations such as

World Relief and the Nazarene Compassionate Ministries and others that

have a nationwide or even global reach. However, a quarter of the funds

will go to five local groups: Share Our Selves, Jewish Family Services,

Friends in Service to Humanity, Catholic Worker and the Orange County

Interfaith Shelter.

The compassionate mission of these groups was what some participants

said drove them to spend their Sunday walking.

“I’ve done it for several years,” participant Cindy Williams said. “I

believe in supporting the organizations that [the walk] supports.”

Williams was taking her stroll with her 8-year-old daughter, Kelsey.

The money Kelsey’s sponsors would contribute for her participation in the

walk would add $234 to the total pot, Williams said.

The Maynard family of Irvine had also been to the walk before.

“We’re repeaters,” said Therese Maynard, who was bringing along her

daughters Remy, 10; Annie, 12; Hayley, 13; and Katie, 16.

“We do it because it’s fun, because it’s a family event, and because

it’s for a good cause.”

Her daughters had an additional motivation, she pointed out. “Some of

them,” she said, “are getting service hours for doing this.”