SEA GIRT — The St. Mark’s Catholic Youth Organization [CYO] of the St. Mark’s Church on Crescent Blvd. celebrated their third Valentine’s Day Walk for Hunger last Feb. 12, raising an initial $420 that will go to charity organizations donating food and conducting feeding programs in nearby towns.
The hunger walk was a short 45-minute exercise: “We met across the street from St. Catharine’s Church, then we went around the lake, then we crossed half of the bridge and then did half of the lake again,” explained Youth Director Mary Reilly.
St. Mark’s CYO is composed of 40 high school students. For the past three years, the youth ministry has been working with charity organizations – the Manasquan Food Bank, Fulfill in Neptune, the Missionaries of Charity Meals for the Homeless and the Jersey Shore Rescue Mission. Donations raised during the walk will help these organizations buy food to serve families and individuals who are struggling to buy basic needs such as food and other food supplements like fruits, vegetables and groceries.
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“We raised some money, then we donated [them] to charities in Manasquan Food bank, Fulfill in Neptune, Missionaries of Charity Meals for the Homeless and the Jersey Shore Rescue Mission. They all do a lot to help the hungry people, mostly Monmouth County,” said Ms. Reilly, who has served at the St. Mark’s CYO since 2006.
Aside from the Valentine’s Hunger Walk, Ms. Reilly said the CYO is also preparing for a mid-year event in honor of a CYO member who died in a motorcycle accident.
“Two of the annual events we have are both hunger walks – One is on V-Day and the other one is much larger – the Emily Walker Memorial Day Walk for Hunger. That [one] includes not just the current CYO members, but also its alumni and the family and friends of Emily Walker. She was a former CYO member who died a couple years ago in a motorcycle accident,” she said.
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