‘Taking A Step Forward’: Walking To End Hunger

Meet Chris Taylor. He’s an Instructor’s Assistant at Idaho State University’s Diesel Technology Program, the Logistics Coordinator for the Eastern Idaho Division of the Red Cross, and has a mustache that defies gravity and time.

He’s stuffing 30 pounds of rice and beans into his World War II-era backpack to show the minimum amount of food it would take to feed one person for a month. He’s taking the pack on a 24.9-mile road march to help raise money for the Idaho Foodbank.

“This is just a way for me to reflect on what it would take to feed someone because I am fortunate enough to have enough to eat. There aren’t enough people in Idaho that have that opportunity,” Taylor said.

The added weight will make his nearly 25-mile walk that much harder. Taylor and three other walkers will take off from the Idaho Foodbank in Pocatello and head down Bannock Highway all the way to Inkom. The crew will have to hoof it at a steady 3 to 3.5 mph to get to Inkom in just four hours. Once they get there, they’ll turn around and do the same thing all the way back to where they started.

The idea is to raise as much money as they can for the food bank by getting sponsors, and to raise people’s awareness.

“One must be prepared for something in the event that we have no longer our transportation, you know, it goes back to the old one two. The feet become more pertinent. I don’t know. I guess it’s just one of those ways that I’m trying to relate to how things used to be, as well,” Taylor said.

As a Red Cross volunteer, Taylor said people should be prepared with 72 hours worth of food and supplies in case of emergency.

In an age when civic engagement in America has been shaken, he said he wants people to be prepared to give, too.

“It’s nothing to find a place to (volunteer) as long as you just ask. And it’s taking a step forward to a better society, I think,” he said.

To donate to the Road March to End Hunger, There is a sign-up sheet at the College Market in Pocatello for people who want to donate to the Road March to End Hunger. People can also email Taylor at taylchri@isu.edu and find more information on Taylor’s Facebook event.