The Christian Center of Park City’s annual Hike for Hunger will return to familiar ground this year.
The event, which raises awareness and funds to fight food insecurity in Summit and Wasatch counties, will be held Sept. 14 at Canyons Village, said Executive Director Rob Harter.
“We were at Canyons two years ago, and we’re glad to be going back,” he said. “We’re so thankful to Vail Resorts for allowing us to do it there.”
Similar to past Hikes for Hunger, this year’s event will feature an afternoon filled with hikes, live music, food and games, according to Harter.
“We will provide two hikes — a hard one and a moderate one — and there will be a third option where people can ride Red Pine gondola up to the top to Red Pine Lodge and then enjoy a ride back down,” he said.
The hard hike is the Mid Mountain North trail, a five-mile loop, and the moderate hike is the two-mile Alpine Lake Loop, Harter said.
“What we always try to do is provide something for everybody because we want a whole range of folks to come and enjoy the event,” he said. “So, we provide a hike that is challenging for those who like to hike, and then we provide a hike that is nice but doesn’t take a lot of time and is good for kids.”
The gondola ride up and down the mountain is also for anyone but specifically for families with younger kids and older grandparents, Harter said.
“We know there are people who just want to spend time with their grandkids without having to take long hikes,” he said.
Much of the fun will actually take place at Canyons Village, Harter said.
“We’ll have food trucks and games and live music performed by The Proper Way,” he said. “They were programmed through Mountain Town Music.”
Community partners such as Lucky Ones Coffee will provide some of the snacks and drinks, according to Harter.
“We’ll have other organizations set up booths so they can provide information about the services they offer regarding food insecurity,” he said.
Food insecurity is real in Summit and Wasatch counties, Harter said.
“Even though we’ve been doing this event for almost 14 years, there is still this idea that food insecurity isn’t an issue in Park City,” he said. “But last year we saw a 20% increase in our food pantry use.”
The Christian Center’s food pantry in Park City served just under 35,000 individuals, while the Heber City pantry served more than 19,000 individuals, Harter said.
“This year we’ve already seen an additional 20% increase from where we were last year in August, and the international students and seasonal workers haven’t even arrived yet,” he said. “So that tells us that when they do arrive, we’ll see a higher percentage of increase.”
The Christian Center of Park City’s mobile food pantries have been busy as well, according to Harter.
“There are people who, for whatever reason, can’t make it to our Park City or Heber City food pantries, so we take the pantry to them,” he said. “We have been offering mobile food pantries on-and-off for a while, but after COVID-19, we made them part of our plan.”
Supporting the food pantries is another Hike for Hunger motive, and Harter says the price of registration has remained low for a reason.
“We want people to support the food pantry, and we want everybody, no matter what economic income level they are, to come and enjoy the event,” he said. “That’s why we’ve never made it hard for them to do so with high ticket prices.”
Harter said inflation has also increased the demand of the food pantries.
“The Christian Center of Park City also helps many of our clients with rental assistance and other basic needs, but we can only help them up to a point,” he said. “So, we encourage them to save money on their grocery bills by using our food pantries. And that way they can save money for other bills like gas, clothes and rent.”
Harter looks forward to the Hike for Hunger’s return to Canyons Village.
“Our first year was 2011, and we started at Deer Valley,” he said. “We moved around throughout the years to St. Regis, Canyons and Park City Mountain, so it’s been great to experience different parts of this area for the hike.”
Christian Center of Park City’s Hike for Hunger
- When: 2-6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14
- Where: Canyons Village
- Registration: ccofpc.org/hike-for-hunger
- Web: ccofpc.org