BONDVILLE- On Thursday, October 1, at Jamaica State Park on Route 30 in Jamaica, The Mountain School at Winhall will join forces with colleges, high school, middle, and elementary schools statewide as it kicks off its sixth annual hike in support of the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger.

This year an unprecedented number of schools will be hiking to raise money for the Campaign’s Cooking for Life nutrition education classes. The Mountain School’s hikers have raised approximately $5,000 since they first took steps to fight hunger in 2004.

“The goal of Cooking for Life is to empower parents and youth to make healthy choices,” says Rebecca O’Reilly, Nutrition Education Coordinator of the Vermont Campaign to End Childhood Hunger.

“More than 68,000 Vermonters, of all ages, live in ‘food insecure’ households,” says Daren Houck, The Mountain School’s Head of School. “On any given day, they may have food, they may not. That’s a very sobering thought, but what really brings it home is the fact that one out of every six Vermont children, and one in three in Windham County, is at risk of ‘daily hunger.’ That shouldn’t be.”

Anyone interested in donating funds, 100% of monies raised goes directly to the campaign, and/or joining the students and staff on the hike, should call the school at (802) 297-2662. Hikers should be at the school, on Route 30, in time to leave for Jamaica State Park at 9:30 am.