She Volunteered In The 1st Walk For Hunger In 1969 — And She's Still Walking In 2018

05:30

May 06, 2018

Sharon Brody
Bob Shaffer

Mary Walling, 70, at home in Hudson as she prepares to walk in Project Bread's Walk for Hunger. Walling volunteered in the first of these pledge walks in 1969, and has walked the route almost every year for the past five decades--raising more than $92,000 for the cause. (Sharon Brody/WBUR)

On Sunday, Project Bread holds the 50th Annual Walk for Hunger — the oldest pledge walk in the country. Among the tens of thousands of people on the route, very few have the vantage point of Mary Walling. Now 70 years old, she's been involved in the event since it began five decades ago.

Walling helped her church organize the first Walk for Hunger in 1969. She proceeded to walk the route almost every year for the past five decades. Last week, as she prepared for this year's 20-mile walk, Walling welcomed WBUR's Weekend Edition to her home in Hudson, Massachusetts for a conversation about her perspective on this slice of Boston history.

This segment aired on May 6, 2018.