WARSAW — The Greater Warsaw Ministerial Association has established Sunday, Sept. 30, as Hunger Awareness Sunday. Churches, groups and individuals are encourage to donate gifts-in-kind for monies to local pantries.

The Salvation Army “Choice Pantry” has seen an increase in requests for food in 2018. According to Major Bill Welch the pantry has seen a 25 percent increase.  “We used to see around 200 households but now we average about 250 per month,” Welch noted.

Pantries in the area serve the “working poor” with unemployment rates at all-time lows but housing and other costs are high.  Many single parents and seniors access the services as well.

The Kosciusko CROP Hunger Walk will also be held at 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 30, at The Salvation Army, 501 E. Arthur St., Warsaw.  Registration begins at 1 p.m. for the 5K walk to raise the awareness of hunger around the World. The estimated figures for hunger insecurity notes 815 million people, 783 million face issues of unclean water and 2.5 billion lack adequate sanitation.  Monies collected for the walk support Church World Services and locally The Salvation Army.