COUNTYWIDE : 1,500 Go on Walk to Raise Money to Feed the World’s Hungry

Camarillo resident Herb Faris took his dog along on a fund-raising walk to give the animal exercise.

But taking the 11-year-old shaggy canine named Poco served another purpose.

“He keeps me going,” Faris, 74, said as he gripped the dog’s leash and kept up the forced clip along the 6.2-mile route.

Faris was one of 210 people to run, stride or trudge through Camarillo on Sunday afternoon to raise money to feed the hungry. It was one of seven such walks held throughout Ventura County.

From Thousand Oaks to Ojai, at least 1,500 Ventura County residents were expected to participate in the event, spearheaded by the Ventura homeless advocacy group Project Understanding. The annual event is called the CROP Walk, after the Christian Rural Overseas Project, which originated the walks nationwide.

Officials did not know how much was raised locally Sunday, but last year’s walks brought in about $100,000.

Three-fourths of the funds gathered this year will be sent to Church World Service and other international relief organizations, with the rest going to local charities and food pantries.

In Camarillo, a group of churches sponsored the event. Participants ranged from a 4-month-old boy in a stroller to 83-year-old Evelyn Blessing, who walked only the first mile.

Camarillo resident Frank Miley, 63, said charity walks not only raise money, they motivate people.

“It’s a way of getting people out and getting them going,” Miley said. “It’s also a way to get our youth involved and get them into the spirit of giving.”

Greg Henry, 13, said he’s joined the Camarillo walk for the past three years “ ‘cause all my friends are doing it, ‘cause my parents do it.”

The seventh-grader said he’d raised about $40 from people at his church.

“People are so willing to give you money for this,” he said. “It’s not like selling candy when they don’t really want it.”