Two prominent Purdue Coaches announced last week that they will be teaming up with Hunger Hike to join the Fight Against Hunger.
This year’s Honorary Hunger Hike Co-chairs are Coach Sharon Versyp (women’s basketball) & Coach Dave Kucik (rowing & crew). Both are passionate about the importance of Hunger Hike and the power of coming together as a community to Fight Hunger. They also put out a challenge to the entire community to start fundraising now to reach this year’s Hunger Hike goal of $100,000.
Coach Versyp & Coach Kucik, the 2019 Hunger Hike Co-chairs, are pictured above with the representatives from the three sponsoring organizations — Lafayette Urban Ministry, Food Finders Food Bank, Inc. & St. Thomas Aquinas Center — who also share how important this annual fundraiser is to funding the food programs necessary to addressing the needs of the families in our community, regionally and abroad.
For more information on how you can begin fundraising for Hunger Hike see below or go to our website — hungerhike.org.
{Pictured above L to R: Katy Bunder, CEO/president, Food Finders Food Bank, Inc.; Fr. Patrick Baikauskas OP, pastor, St. Thomas Aquinas Center; Coach Sharon Versyp; Coach Dave Kucik; Joe Micon, executive director, Lafayette Urban Ministry.}
Introducing the Hunger Hike 2018 Co-Chairs Coach Sharon Versyp & Coach David Kucik
The Hunger Hike 2018 co-chairs are Purdue Coaches Sharon Versyp (women’s basketball) & Dave Kucik (men’s & women’s crew & rowing).
Coaches Versyp & Kucik are perfect ambassadors for Hunger Hike. Both have a high standard for their own work, hold their teams to a high standard and have a serious commitment to serving their community — especially in supporting food assistance and nutrition programs. As wonderful role models they will also be engaging the collegiate athletes on their teams in this Hunger Hike event.
Join us THIS Sunday to meet Coaches Sharon Versyp & Dave Kucik and hear their remarks at the Hunger Hike kick-off event at 1:30 p.m. (Riehle Plaza).
At an event this week at Mackey Arena, two prominent Purdue Coaches announced they would be teaming up with Hunger Hike as honorary co-chairs to join the Fight Against Hunger.
Honorary Hunger Hike Co-chairs, Coach Sharon Versyp (women’s basketball) & Coach Dave Kucik (rowing & crew). Both spoke passionately about the importance of Hunger Hike and the power of coming together as a community to Fight Hunger. They also put out a challenge to the entire community to start fundraising now to reach this year’s Hunger Hike goal of $115,000.
Representatives from the three sponsoring organizations — Lafayette Urban Ministry, Food Finders Food Bank, Inc. & St. Thomas Aquinas Center — also offered remarks and shared how important this fundraiser is to funding the programs necessary to addressing the needs of the families in our community and abroad.
For more information on how you can begin fundraising for Hunger Hike see below or go to our website — hungerhike.org.
{Pictured above L to R: Katy Bunder, CEO/president, Food Finders Food Bank, Inc.; Fr. Patrick Baikauskas OP, pastor, St. Thomas Aquinas Center; Coach Sharon Versyp; Coach Dave Kucik; Joe Micon, executive director, Lafayette Urban Ministry.}
Amanda Elmore, US Olympic Gold Medalist, Purdue Alumna & Harrison High Graduate to Speak at
Hunger Hike 2016 — Sunday, September 18
West Lafayette, IN – The Hunger Hike planning team is excited to announce that Amanda Elmore, Olympic Gold Medalist (US Rowing), Purdue Alumna & Harrison High Graduate is scheduled to attend and speak at Hunger Hike 2016 Kick-off event. Details are as follows:
Date: Sunday, September 18
Times: Noon – 2 p.m.; Remarks at 1:45 p.m.
Place: Riehle Plaza, N 2nd Street, Lafayette
Amanda Elmore and her US Rowing Team earned a GOLD medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Amanda is a graduate of Harrison High School, where she was a member of the band, competed in gymnastics, cross country and track and was valedictorian; and Purdue University, where she was on the Purdue Crew Team and earned many awards and honors.
Both the Harrison High School Raiders and the Purdue Crew Team are great friends of LUM in many ways — especially at Hunger Hike. Purdue Crew Team also supports LUM through their Row-A-Thon fundraising event which this past February donated $8,542 to the LUM Good Samaritan Fund.
There has always been a strong partnership between Purdue University & Hunger Hike. Here is how we connect this year:
Keynote: Amanda Elmore
Hunger Hike Honorary Co-Chairs: Sharon Versyp, Purdue Women’s Basketball head coach; Dave Kucik, Purdue Rowing Team head coach; and Dave Shondell, Purdue Volleyball head coach
Participating — Teams: Women’s Basketball, Rowing & Crew Team, Volleyball, Track & Field; and spirit squad: Boilermaker Special, Purdue mascot — plus the Purdue Cheerleaders and Purdue Pete will attend and start the event with a spirited cheer
Leading the actual Hunger Hike along the Wabash Heritage Trail will be the Purdue Crew Team with their sculls and sweep boats, Purdue Pete & the cheerleaders, the Purdue Volleyball & Women’s Basketball teams
Each Fall for over 50 years Hunger Hike has brought together the entire community—including Purdue—in a common goal of Fighting Hunger. For more information on Hunger Hike 2016, please visit and explore our new website at www.hungerhike.org. Individuals and group may still sign up to participate and business may still become event sponsors.
Hunger Hike
Hunger Hike is an annual Fall community fundraising weekend which includes the traditional 3K Walk on Sunday as well as a 5K run on Saturday. This year Hunger Hike is Saturday, September 17 & Sunday, September 18, 2016.
All Hunger Hike proceeds directly support the Lafayette Urban Ministry food assistance programs including the St. John’s/LUM Food Pantry, Food Finders Food Bank, Inc., and St. Thomas Aquinas Center’s Haitian Ministry including the Haiti Water Purification Project. Since early 1990s Lafayette Urban Ministry, St. Thomas Aquinas Center and Food Finders Food Bank, Inc. have been organizing a walk to support food programs locally, regionally and globally. Formerly known as the Crop Walk which dates back to the mid-1960s, it was officially renamed Hunger Hike in 1993.
Today, Hunger Hike gives companies, organizations, families & individuals many ways to be a part of a community event with a tremendous positive impact on “Fighting Hunger.”
Purdue Coaches Team Up to Fight Hunger — Hunger Hike 2016
Dave Kucik, Sharon Versyp & Dave Shondell — Hunger Hike Honorary Co-chairs
West Lafayette, IN – Three prominent Purdue coaches have teamed up to fight hunger by participating and promoting Hunger Hike 2016. Coaches Sharon Versyp (women’s basketball), Dave Shondell (women’s volleyball) & Dave Kucik (rowing & crew) will be speaking out about the issues of hunger in Indiana and encouraging participation in one of the longest running, most well respected fundraising events — Hunger Hike.
Join us for this event; details are as follows:
Date: Wednesday, August 24
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Place: Riehle Plaza, N 2nd Street, Lafayette
The Hunger Hike updates which will be announced are as follows:
HONORARY CO-CHAIRS: 2016 Co-chairs will offer remarks and be available for questions and one-on-one interviews
Sharon Versyp, Purdue Women’s Basketball head coach
David Kucik, Purdue Rowing & Crew Team head coach
Dave Shondell, Purdue Volleyball head coach
Hunger Hike
Kick-off Event — Sunday, September 18, 2 p.m., Riehle Plaza, N 2nd Street, Lafayette
Hunger Hike 5K Run – Saturday, September 17, 9 a.m., Celery Bog Nature Area (Cattail Trail Loop), Cumberland Avenue, West Lafayette
EVENT SPONSORS (to date): Diamond Level — Walmart & Sam’s Club;
Gold Level — Alcoa, Inc., The Kroger Co., Cook Medical, and Bison Financial Group
Representatives from the three sponsoring organizations, Lafayette Urban Ministry, Food Finders Food Bank, Inc. & St. Thomas Aquinas Center, will be available for questions and one-on-one interviews.
Hunger Hike
For more information on Hunger Hike 2016, please visit our website at www.hungerhike.org.
15.5 percent in the state in 2015 said they were unable to afford enough food
One of every 6 children in Indiana is at risk of hunger
Proper nutrition is vital to the growth and development of children
Research indicates that even mild under-nutrition experienced by children during critical periods of growth impacts behavior, school performance, and their overall cognitive development
Hunger Hike is an annual Fall community fundraising weekend which includes the traditional 3K Walk on Sunday as well as a 5K run on Saturday. This year Hunger Hike is Saturday, September 17 & Sunday, September 18, 2016.
All Hunger Hike proceeds directly support the Lafayette Urban Ministry food assistance programs including the St. John’s/LUM Food Pantry, Food Finders Food Bank, Inc., and St. Thomas Aquinas Center’s Haitian Ministry including the Haiti Water Purification Project. Since early 1990s Lafayette Urban Ministry, St. Thomas Aquinas Center and Food Finders Food Bank, Inc. have been organizing a walk to support food programs locally, regionally and globally. Formerly known as the Crop Walk, it was officially renamed Hunger Hike in 1993.
Today, Hunger Hike gives companies, organizations, families & individuals many ways to be a part of a community event with a tremendous positive impact on “Fighting Hunger.”
Last week, LUM Executive Director, Joe Micon, distributed the checks to the benefactors. On hand to accept for Food Finder Food Bank, Inc. was Katy Bunder, Executive Director; and for St. Thomas Aquinas Center, Fr. Patrick Baikauskas, Pastor and Director of Campus Ministry. Hunger Hike 2014 had over 1000 organizations, businesses and individuals involved in fundraising and making donations; over 900 hikers, walkers, and runners; and over 200 volunteers engaged before, during and after the event.
Joe Micon stated that LUM will use the money to support the St. John’s/LUM Food Pantry which provides emergency food for over 2200 individuals each and every month and recently expanded its hours to include Saturdays.
Katie Bunder stated that Food Finder Food Bank will use the money to support and expand existing programs like the Mobile Food Pantry and the Back Pack Program.
St. Thomas Aquinas will use the money to support their mission work in Haiti. Several times a year St. Thomas Aquinas provides opportunities for individuals including Purdue students to travel to Haiti and to provide needed work especially efforts to purify water for drinking and introduce more efficient farming techniques. St. Thomas had the largest group of Hikers and raised the most from donations to Hikers again this year.
Joe Micon gave special recognition to the Hunger Hike Honorary Chair, Sharon Versyp, coach of the Purdue Women’s Basketball and the team for role in promoting and for their support the day of Hunger Hike. Micon also thanked David Kucik, coach of the Purdue Crew and the teams for their support and for leading Hunger Hike each year. Micon acknowledged the behind the scenes work of the the entire LUM staff.
Hunger Hike was a great success and will have a tremendous positive impact on our community and the world. LUM announced that the tradition will continue in 2015 with the next Hunger Hike on Sunday, September 20 with the HH5K Run taking place on Saturday, September 19th.
The Lafayette Urban Ministry (LUM) is an organization of churches that serves as a social safety net for Lafayette’s needy children and families. For over 40 years, LUM has worked to give back the hope, the future, and the self-respect to low-income people in the Greater Lafayette area. We take an active role in trying to change social injustices and improve the quality of life for the poor of Indiana.
Sharon Versyp is the head women’s basketball coach at Purdue University; and Dave Kucik is the head coach of the Purdue University Rowing program including the Purdue men’s & women’s Crew Teams.
Coaches Versyp and Kucik are both passionate about fighting hunger and are a great role models for us all. They both have built strong programs for their student-athletes while emphasizing the responsibility to serve the neediest in your community. They create opportunities for their student-athletes to raise awareness and more importantly raise money for important programs like Hunger Hike. They also lead by example — engaging personally in the community to have a positive impact.
Coaches Versyp and Kucik will kick off Hunger Hike with words of inspirational for the participants on Sunday, September 21 — and the Purdue women’s basketball team and the Purdue Crew Team will lead the Hunger Hikers to the trail head.
Join us for Hunger Hike — meet our Hunger Hike 2014 Co-chairs — and raise funds to feed families locally, regionally, and globally.
HH5K Run
Saturday, September 20
8 a.m. — Check In
9 a.m. — Race begins
Cumberland Park, West Lafayette, Indiana
Hunger Hike 3K Walk
Sunday, September 21
Noon — Check In
1:45 p.m. — Remarks
2 p.m. –- Hike begins
Riehle Plaza, Lafayette, Indiana
Hike to Fight Hunger
Donate Online
Hunger Hike—3K Walk Registration
HH5K Run Registration
Support a Team
Become a Sponsor
Go to www.hungerhike.org
If you have questions – call or email (765.423.2691 | hungerhike@lumserve.org)
#HungerHike
Join LUM online and help us serve children and families even better.
This morning, LUM Executive Director, Joe Micon, and Board President, Deb Parent, distributed the checks to the benefactors. On hand to accept for Food Finder Food Bank was Katie Bunder, Executive Director, and Cheryl Precious, Development Director. Also in attendance were Ron Smith, Hunger Hike director, and Eileen Weiss, LUM business manager. Hunger Hike 2012 had over 1000 organizations, businesses and individuals involved in fundraising and making donations; over 900 hikers, walkers, and runners; and over 200 volunteers engaged before, during and after the event.
Food Finders Food Bank, St. Thomas Aquinas’ Haiti Ministry and the food programs at LUM each were presented with a check for $26,095.72.
Katie Bunder stated that Food Finder Food Bank will use the money to fund the maintenance costs for storing and delivering food that are not currently covered by other organizations. It currently costs 25 cents per pound to store and distribute food and other organizations pay 19 cents. This money will cover the rest. Hunger Hike money also pays for the distribution for ripe produce which is distributed without collecting any maintenance fees. Produce supplies have increased by 400% which is positive but it costs more to distribute before it spoils. On behalf of Food Finders, Bunder stated that “we hope we can help all of greater Lafayette eat healthier because we have all of these dollars to spend on healthy, fresh food.”
St. Thomas Aquinas will use the money to support their mission work in Haiti. Several times a year St. Thomas Aquinas provides opportunities for individuals including Purdue students to travel to Haiti and to provide needed work especially efforts to purify water for drinking. Joe Micon acknowledged and thanked St. Thomas Aquinas for their work in Haiti as well as the support of Hunger Hike. St. Thomas had the largest group of Hikers and raised the most from donations to Hikers.
Joe Micon gave special recognition to the Hunger Hike Honorary Chair, Sharon Versyp, coach of the Purdue Women’s Basketball and the team for role in promoting and for their support the day of Hunger Hike. Micon also thanked David Kucik, coach of the Purdue Crew and the teams for their support and for leading Hunger Hike each year. Micon acknowledged the behind the scenes work of the LUM business manager, Eileen Weiss; and the LUM Director of the Hunger Hike Program, Ron Smith.
Hunger Hike was a great success and will have a tremendous positive impact on our community and the world. LUM announced that the tradition will continue in 2013 with the next Hunger Hike on Sunday, September 15, 2013.
The Lafayette Urban Ministry (LUM) is an organization of 42 Christian churches that serves as a social safety net for Lafayette’s needy children and families. For over 40 years, LUM has worked to give back the hope, the future, and the self-respect to low-income people in the Greater Lafayette area. We take an active role in trying to change social injustices and improve the quality of life for the poor of Indiana.
The Hunger Hike 2018 co-chairs are Purdue Coaches Sharon Versyp (women’s basketball) & Dave Kucik (men’s & women’s crew & rowing).
Amanda Elmore, US Olympic Gold Medalist, Purdue Alumna & Harrison High Graduate to Speak at
