By KIRBY NEUMANN-REA
News editor
April 9, 2008

Months of work for Darfur by Hood River Valley High School students and community members comes to its most public stage Sunday with the Walk-a-thon to observe International Darfur Day.

The event goes from 1 to 4 p.m. at Henderson Stadium and is sponsored by the HRVHS chapter of STAND, a national student Darfur advocacy organization.

The walk serves as a reminder of the daily walk, sometimes for many miles in the desert, by refugees from the Darfur province of Sudan, according to STAND organizer Mackenzie Ragan of HRVHS. In addition to the walk there will be $2 buttons sold, music, face-painting and other activities.

Teams have been forming in the community to walk to raise money for refugees in camps in Chad, the nation neighboring Sudan. In the past few years, global awareness has heightened over the terrible plight of Darfuris, who have been killed, raped, and driven from their homes by militias supported by the Sudanese government.

A tent students have painted will be on display and another will be painted Sunday, as part of the international outreach effort Tents of Hope. Communities paint tents that are auctioned to buy supplies and other aid for Darfuris.

In recent weeks, students at HRVHS have painted canvas patches that are sent to Chad to communicate support to the refugees. Children in the camps there will paint the other sides of the patches. More patches will be available on Sunday for anyone to paint. If you want to get involved call counselor Joanne Pollack at the high school, 386-4500, or pick up sponsor sheets at the high school or fill one out at the event.