A record number of people turned out to support Project Bread in the third annual Greater Wareham Walk for Hunger held Sunday, May 6.

The final numbers are being calculated, but the Reverend Diane Badger of the Community Baptist Church of Marion, which organized the walk in conjunction with Wareham's St. Patrick's Church and the Church of the Good Shepherd, said she could tell very early that this year's walk was going to go above and beyond past year's events.

"It's crazy!" she said with a big grin as participants filled a room in the Church of the Good Shepherd to register for the walk, which began at the High Street church, continued to the Emmanuel Church of the Nazarene on Rogers Avenue, and made its way back to the Church of the Good Shepherd.

A total of approximately 120 people walked this year, raising more than $4,500 thus far. Many took home envelopes to collect more donations, Badger said.

"Last year we had a total of $5,200 in donations, but I know we're going to surpass that this year," she added.

Badger and Pastor Dan Bernier of the Church of the Good Shepherd kicked off the first Greater Wareham Walk for Hunger in 2010 as an offshoot of Boston's annual Walk for Hunger, which is 20 miles long and held the same day.

The team hoped the shorter local walk would attract residents who did not want to make the drive to Boston, find parking, walk 20 miles, and then drive back.

The concept seems to have worked, with the walk growing from 50 participants the first year to 80 the second and well over 100 this year.

"We do this on a shoestring," Badger explained, so that much of the money raised can go straight to nonprofit Project Bread, which provides funding for food pantries and feeding programs throughout the state -- including many programs in the Wareham area.

Pat Probert, who coordinates the Church of the Good Shepherd's soup kitchen -- Good Shepherd's Table -- said the $1,500 the kitchen has received from Project Bread in nine of the years since it opened in 2000 is "a blessing."

Badger said she hopes the Greater Wareham Walk for Hunger will help bring hunger to the forefront of residents' minds.

Hunger "is not just a big-city thing. It is also in the greater Wareham area," she said, adding: "A big thank-you to all who walked ... and to all the churches who gave us all the support."