By Barbara Brewer La Mere
The local CROP Walk is scheduled for Sunday, May 6, kicking off from Hudson Falls United Methodist Church.
Locally, CROP, the hunger relief program of Church World Service, begins long before the date of the walk. Take some time to really seriously study the place mats donated by Seeley Office Systems in support of this year’s Gene DuPell Memorial CROP Walk and a picture begins to emerge of both an enormous incidence of hunger in the world and in this country and of an overwhelming local community response. The statistic is noted that “Each day 16,000 children die from hunger, 1 every 5 seconds.” There is a quote from a child in this country who had fallen asleep at school. When asked by his teacher if he had eaten breakfast, he replied, “It wasn’t my turn.”
Looking over that place mat, one begins to see how many community entities have joined together to support this year’s walk in very many ways. Major corporate donors include Tackett Chiropractic, Curtis Lumber, Parks Heritage Credit Union, Northeast Spray Foam, and Jesse Howard Properties & Building Co., LLC. Hilltop Construction is a very special sponsor whose role will later be described.
This year, Johnny Rocket’s Restaurants, located at the Great Escape Lodge, has for the third year provided CROP Walk volunteers with the food and the space to host a fundraiser breakfast. Held on the morning of March 17, over 300 meals were served. In combination with the bake sale held at the breakfast, $2450 was raised. Says Dan McCoy of The Great Escape, “My heart is in the community.” He’s very pleased to contribute. All-American Properties sent out 1500 post cards to its customers with free tickets for the breakfast and paid CROP Walk for all post cards redeemed.
On April 25, from noon to 2pm, the Outback Steakhouse, located on Route 9 in Queensbury is donating 100% of the proceeds from a luncheon buffet to CROP. The $15 menu includes filet tenderloins, chicken on the barbie, baked potatoes, Caesar salad, fresh bread, bloomin’ onions, mild wings, cheesecake and soft drinks.
Still looking over the place mat, one learns that red octagon-shaped stop signs that read “HELP CROP STOP HUNGER” are available for $1 at 12 branches of Glens Falls National Bank, and at Manley’s Restaurant, Broadway Lanes, The Wayside Inn, Parks Heritage Federal Credit Union, Sam’s Diner and NBT Bank. This has been a very successful aspect of fundraising for CROP Walk with more sales locations added every year. Printing of those stop signs is donated by GNS Printing in South Glens Falls.
This event, the fifth year of the fundraiser, is somewhat unique to the local CROP Walk. Local community members are nominated to the Kiss-A-Llama Challenge. That nominee whose supporters raise the most money on his or her behalf is entitled to share a smooch with Dusty the Llama, a regular CROP Walk attendee. (Dusty also serves as an ad man, wearing sandwich boards to advertise some top corporate sponsors. His presence this year is made possible by a generous neighbor who offered to help transport him and owner Jean Hayes after the recent passing of her spouse, Ed Hayes.) This year’s nominees include Tom Murphy of Glens Falls National Bank, Brian Bearor of Glens Falls Family YMCA, Father Rich Chandler of Zion Episcopal Church in Hudson Falls, George Christian of Faith Tabernacle Baptist Church in Glens Falls, Dennis Albrecht of Garvey Hyundai, and Joyce Huntley of Hudson Falls United Methodist Church.
To expand on the role of Hilltop Construction in CROP Walk, its President and CEO is Tom Albrecht, Chairman of the Gene DuPell Memorial Crop Walk. Albrecht is clearly dedicated to this cause. Company letterhead, Hilltop’s website, and its trucks all feature CROP Walk logos. Even Albrecht’s license plate reads, “CROPWALK.” Sit in the company’s office for a few minutes and the phone, answered by Albrecht’s daughter and administrative assistant, April Washburn, is sure to ring with messages related to CROP Walk. Tom’s wife, Cindy, a vested owner in the corporation, answers the phones as well.
Twenty-five percent of funds raised locally stay with local beneficiaries, including The Open Door Soup Kitchen, the Bread of Life Food Pantry, based out of Zion Episcopal Church in Hudson Falls, the food pantry based out of the Moreau Community Center in South Glens Falls and the Fort Edward Community Food Pantry.
The walk is named the Gene DuPell Memorial CROP Walk in memory of a member of the congregation of Hudson Falls United Methodist Church, who, in spite of failing health and declining ambulation capacity, was determined that he would walk in the 2005 CROP Walk.
So, mark your calendars. Maybe get a family, friends, or workplace team together. Find some sponsors of your own. Call Hilltop Construction at 798-0338 to preregister or simply show up the day of the walk. Online registration is also an option at www.cropwalkonline.org. Click on the Hudson Falls, New York walk, and begin gathering sponsors electronically. Kiwanis could still use some help with the coin drop. Call Hilltop if you could help out with that, with the registration desk on walk day, or as a water station attendant.
Top walkers are eligible to win fleece wear or a gift basket from the Adirondack Phantoms (whose mascot DAX, will appear on walk day), season passes to The Great Escape, a Vermont Teddy Bear, passes to the circus coming to Lake George, courtesy of Bob Blais, Willard Mountain tubing passes, gift cards to Wings Over Saratoga, a framed, autographed Jimmer Fredette poster, or a bike.
To learn of other humanitarian work of Church World Service in the areas of education, access to clean water, or blankets for refugees, see www.churchworldservice.org.