Barrington Area CROP Hunger Walk Announces Grand Marshal

The Barrington Area CROP Hunger Walk Committee is proud to announce that John Grom has been named Grand Marshal for the 35th anniversary of this event which raises funds for people in need in our communities and around the world.

Grom may be well known to many Barrington residents, as he taught at Barrington schools for 37 years. Originally from the Chicago area, his introduction to Barrington came as a college student while working as a laborer for a bricklayer in Palatine. He came into Barrington to get coffee for the laborers. Later, as a student teacher, he was assigned to North Barrington Elementary School. A fourth/fifth grade position at North Barrington became available and so, after graduating, he began his Barrington teaching career in 1966. During his teaching career, he also taught fifth or sixth grade at Hough Street, Roslyn, Lines Elementary Schools and spent the last six years at Prairie School Station.

Grom was the first parent to be granted a paternity leave, taking a year off after the birth of both of his sons. The family moved from the Elgin area into Barrington when the younger son entered kindergarten. His son, JD, was a member of the sophomore football team and walked in CROP Walk.

His work on the Barrington Area CROP Hunger Walk Committee began in 1990. The representative at Community Church, where Grom has attended since 1989, asked if he would attend the meetings because she was taking a night class. She took a lot of night classes and Grom never stopped attending those meetings.

"It's nice to know that 25 percent of what is raised in Barrington stays in Barrington," says Grom.

Grom has also volunteered at the Barrington Area Library for a time and at the church. BACOA recognized him in 2014 because he "does things when people need it, just helping out."

Grom He retired from teaching in 2002 and he must keep busy helping out, because he admits it doesn't seem that he's been retired that long.

The Barrington Area CROP Walk is an annual community hunger education and fundraising event sponsored by Church World Service (CWS), an international ecumenical relief, development and refugee resettlement agency providing assistance in the United States and around the world. CWS is also responding to those affected by Hurricanes Irma, Harvey, and Maria. The Walk takes place throughout the Village of Barrington, beginning at Lutheran Church of the Atonement, 909 E. Main St., Barrington with registration at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, October 15; the walk begins at 1 p.m.

Twenty-five percent of all funds raised in Barrington stays in our area benefiting the Northern Illinois Food Bank; the FISH Food Pantry, Carpentersville; BACOA Meals With Wheels; Wauconda-Island Lake Food Pantry; Project HOPE; and the People in Need program of the Barrington Area Ministerial Association.

To learn more, check out the website, www.crophungerwalk.org/barringtonil, or contact chairwoman Cindy Kueter, cskueter@sbcglobal.net.

Visit and like the Barrington Area CROP Hunger Walk on Facebook, also.