Couple goes step by step to end hunger
By Caitlyn Kelleher JOURNAL REPORTER

On Sunday, May 6, Margaret Donahue Lynch, and her husband, Jef, will walk around Boston to help feed the hungry.

The couple won't simply be handing out food to those living on the streets but raising money as part of the annual Walk for Hunger, sponsored by Project Bread.

"I've participated in it for about 17 years," said Lynch. "I have always been interested in making such people get enough to eat."

Project Bread is sponsoring the 39th Walk for Hunger to help feed families and children in Massachusetts. The walk is 20 miles starting at the Boston Common and winding its way through Brookline, Newton and Cambridge.

The money goes to buy food for more than 400 food pantries, soup kitchens, food banks and food salvage programs including the Ashburnham Community Church Food Pantry and the Townsend Ecumenical Outreach Program.

"You can raise so much more money when you do something like this than contributing on your own," said Lynch. "People are pretty generous in sponsoring us."

Lynch hopes to raise more than $500 to qualify as a Heart and Soul Walker, which she has been able to do in years past.

"We usually only walk about five miles; the whole walk is 20 miles," Lynch said.

Lynch and her husband start with the group of walkers at the Boston Common at 8 a.m. but have also struck out on their own on the route. They tend to walk toward Fenway and the Victory Gardens area of the city.

"We just enjoy the diversity," she said. "We like to see other areas of the town. We like to see the gardens, then we wind our way back to the common on a different route."

She said in addition to raising money for a good cause. the strong group of people that get together for the event helps to make it worthwhile.

"It is usually a nice day," she said. "We have never really had bad weather. It is nice to see how many people turn out."

Lynch started doing the walk when she lived in Watertown but since she moved to Townsend she has wanted to keep going.

"There are not a lot of people from this area that go in. It's a long trip. But it's well worth it," she said.