CHESTERFIELD — As the first yellow and red leaves of autumn were blown from the trees in the park at the Millcreek Civic Center, a group of 17 volunteers dressed in hats and scarves gathered under the park shelter.

White posters with red stop sign images reading “Help CROP stop hunger” were scattered on tables in the shelter, waiting to be carried in a 4-mile loop around Chesterfield.

Participants in the annual CROP walk to stop hunger braved the breezy October weather and set out for their short, but meaningful journey.

“We walk for hunger around the world and around the corner,” event coordinator Gwen Spaulding explained.

While she did not take part in the walk, Spaulding helped organize and register participants who found sponsorship dollars for the fundraiser.

The event, a small local effort, has raised $4,000 during good economic times, Spaulding said.

She had no idea what the 2009 walk would bring in.

The money, she said, goes to help those at the Christian Rescue Center and Operation Love in Anderson.

Some is sent to the CROP headquarters where it is sent overseas to help those impoverished around the world.

Walker Jenna Helm figured her sacrifice of an afternoon would likely benefit those causes. “It would be more in the foreign countries,” she said of hunger.

Jason Johnson, a youth minister at St. Matthew United Methodist Church in Anderson, led the group in prayer before setting off on the 4-mile walk.

The event was organized by Church Women United, a local group of women from different area churches who unite in community service.

Dean O’Conner has been involved with the group for years but said she had to stop taking part in the walk three years ago due to an injury.

On Sunday, she stood beneath the park shelter bundled in scarves and a heavy coat.

Instead of walking, she helped register participants and watched their personal items as they strolled across Chesterfield.