Five thousand students and staff from the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board recently embarked on the sixth annual Walk with Christ: Justice for the Poor pilgrimage in support of Third World charities.

The group left from Cathedral High School for an eight-kilometre hike up the Wentworth Street escarpment rail trail to St. Daniel Catholic Elementary School where a barbecue, courtesy of Harvey’s Restaurants, awaited them.

“When you get hungry or tired, remember we are doing this for our brothers and sisters in Christ, knowing that we are a global family,” said Cathedral chaplaincy leader and pilgrimage steering committee member Dave McNorgan.

Deemed to be the largest service project in the history of the board, the pilgrimage is about raising students’ awareness of the injustice of world hunger and inadequate health care, shelter and education in other parts of the world.

The pilgrimage is estimated to have raised $75,000 through pledges and donations. Since the first pilgrimage in May 2004, the event has raised $275,000, money which has supported the Broken Wings Mission in Haiti, Scarboro Missions development projects in the Dominican Republic and St. Joseph’s Vocational School in Nansana, Uganda. Other funds have been directed to the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace for emergency relief projects.