Participants at the 2019 Walk for Hunger benefiting Yadkin Christian Ministries.
The annual Walk for Hunger benefitting Yadkin Christian Ministries is planned for Sunday, Oct. 2 from 3 to 4 p.m. at Yadkinville Community Park (corner of US-601 and Tennessee St.) Registration begins at 2:30 p.m.
This year’s event will include music by Hickory Bend. Ice cream will be served and awards presented to the group with the most walkers and the largest dollar amount raised. Groups may also hold walks at their home church.
Yadkin Christian Ministries provides food for those in need at locations in Yadkinville and East Bend. The Walk for Hunger is a tradition dating back to at least the 1970s and has been organized since 2011 by Deep Creek Friends Church in memory of Susan Steelman. Steelman was a dedicated volunteer for Yadkin Christian Ministries as well as other church and community organizations.
Steelman retired after 40 years of teaching. When interviewed about her life, she said, “I retired when I was 65, and immediately I thought I have got to do something because I can’t just sit here.”
She stayed very active at Yadkin Christian Ministries as the food coordinator and was lovingly known by her family as the Energizer Bunny. Her daughter, Janet Robbins, continues the tradition of volunteering with Yadkin Christian Ministries.
In a speech she gave to the Woman’s Club in Elkin on Feb. 23, 1998, Steelman said, “It takes preparation to be able to enjoy this last lap. Life is not a series of sharply divided segments. It is a continuous journey. Nobody grows old merely by living a number of years. You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubts, as young as your self confidence, and as old as your despair.”
Robbins said her mother’s “faith and spirit live on and still inspire many to give back to their community.”
For more information on Yadkin Christian Ministries, visit www.y-c-m.org or call 336-677-3080.
Kitsey Burns Harrison may be reached at 336-258-4035 or on Twitter and Instagram @news_shewrote