Charlanne Van Wormer. (Photos by Lisa Aciukewicz)

“I was called to little ponds,” declares Oak Hill Road resident Charlanne Van Wormer. It seems one of the things she was “called” to do in the little pond of Harvard was to institute the Good Friday walk in town. This year’s walk, Friday, April 6, will mark the 25th anniversary of this tradition. For 20 of those years, Van Wormer was coordinator, director, fundraiser, worker, and walker. During that time she met a lot of wonderful people and had some great experiences, she said in an interview Tuesday, March 13. Although she has passed the administrative torch to Ruthie Broughton of Littleton, Van Wormer has remained very much involved in the Good Friday walk. This year she will participate as a walker, accompanied by her 9-year-old granddaughter, Abby.

The history of the Harvard walk goes back to 1974, when a woman named Kay Doherty came to speak at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Ayer, Van Wormer said. Doherty, a resident of Hingham, talked about how she had read that a government agency was cutting off funds to 600 families in the town of Mound Bayou in Bolivar County, Mississippi, the second poorest black community in the nation. Incensed, Kay reached for her checkbook, but “remembering the zero balance,” she looked for another way to help. On that Good Friday she walked the 20 miles from her house to her church, and her fellow church members sponsored her; Kay personally delivered the money to the Mississippi town. And so began an annual walk to help those poverty-stricken families.

Van Wormer was inspired by Kay and by her pictures and stories: stories of how drinking water for blacks was diverted to water a golf course, and how a black child was forced to sit apart from the children of a white woman as she read the Bible to them. She was outraged that such things were allowed to go on, and shamed to be a witness to such blatant racism. Doherty called upon her listeners to connect their faith with the realities of the sufferings of the world, and to have faith in themselves to make a difference. “She changed my life,” Van Wormer said of Doherty. For the next several years, Van Wormer and others from her church traveled to Hingham for the Good Friday walks. Then, in 1982—perhaps inspired by the gas crisis—they asked each other, “Why don’t we have this walk at home?”

Charlanne Van Wormer reminisces with Ruthie Broughton, this year’s administrator of the Good Friday Walk, about the many years they’ve participated.

The first year, the walk followed a largely unpopulated route from the Congregational Church down Littleton Road past the Veryfine factory, and back by Oak Hill Road. The next year another loop was added, but the two routes put a strain on the staff, Van Wormer said. Since “there is no walk without workers,” the present five-mile loop that begins at the Congregational Church was set. The official route begins at the Congregational Church, goes north on Ayer Road to a left on Depot Road, then takes a fork off Depot onto Craggs Road. The route then winds up Prospect Hill to Madigan Lane, back toward the center on Still River Road to a left at Under Pin Hill, a right onto Lovers Lane, and back to the church. In the early days, walkers got sponsors who pledged so much for every mile walked; now, walkers ask for a donation up front and walk the route as often as they please.

When the Harvard walk began, it was connected to Sharing, Inc., an organization that evolved from the original Good Friday walk in Hingham. At that time, two-thirds of the proceeds went to Bolivar County in Mississippi. The remaining third of the proceeds went to the local food pantry, Loaves & Fishes, which Van Wormer also helped create. Today, this ratio is reversed, and Loaves & Fishes receives the bulk of the money raised. To date, Sharing, Inc., supported by 13 similar walks throughout the country, has sent more than $3 million to help poor children in Mississippi and Alabama. Doherty still delivers the money personally, Van Wormer said, and she is proud of the fact that 94 cents out of every dollar goes directly to the cause. Meanwhile, Loaves & Fishes has continued to grow, according to Van Wormer, sustained by a force of dedicated volunteers and generous donors.

Five years ago, Van Wormer took a trip to Mound Bayou to see first-hand the grim poverty of the families living there. She was horrified to see what deplorable conditions exist here in our country, but also somewhat heartened to visit a clinic funded by Sharing, Inc. She and nine others, connected only by the inspiration of Doherty, also visited sites that had witnessed significant milestones in the struggle for civil rights. She saw the Birmingham church where four girls were killed by a bomb in 1963, as well as the lunch counter where black students had shown the courage to remain peaceful during white abuse. In Selma, she walked across the Selma bridge where blacks walking for voting rights were beaten and pushed back by fire hoses. This violence inspired thousands who saw it on television to go to Selma and cross the bridge in solidarity for civil rights, Van Wormer’s uncle among them. Van Wormer was so moved and humbled by this eerie, solitary journey that she cried for two days after she got home.

“I feel lucky to have been able to give my life to volunteerism,” Van Wormer said. In addition to the Good Friday walk and Loaves & Fishes, Van Wormer was active in Harvard Help for many years, wrote for the old Harvard Post, and sat on a number of town boards. She loved the variety of her experiences and met many people who inspired her along the way, she said. Van Wormer added that she has loved working with people over the years. “I expect people to be wonderful,” she said, “and usually they are.”