By Barbara Brewer La Mere<\/p>\n
The 2014 Gene DuPell Memorial CROP Walk raised $51,000 to benefit four local food pantries and the international projects of Church World Service.<\/p>\n
The Hudson Falls CROP Walk began over 30 years ago. Over the years,walkers from adjacent communities have joined.<\/p>\n
This year’s local beneficiaries (who receive 25 percent of all funds raised) include Bread of Life Food Pantry in Hudson Falls, the Fort Edward Food Pantry, the Moreau Community Center Food Pantry, and the Open Door Soup Kitchen in Glens Falls.<\/p>\n
Church World Service provides poverty relief efforts in more than 30 countries around the globe. Food and clean water access are high priorities. Seeds and tools for growing food along with technical training and micro-enterprise loans for new farmers are important ways in which Church World Service carries out its mission. They are also involved in disaster response and refugee resettlement projects.
\nThe Gene DuPell Memorial CROP Walk is named for the walk’s 2007 captain, who raised an outstanding amount of funds as a patient at Fort Hudson Nursing Home.<\/p>\n
Tom Albrecht, president of Hilltop Construction in Hudson Falls, came on board as chairman of the event 15 years ago after being moved to become involved in poverty reduction during a mission trip to Haiti where he saw children scavenging in garbage dumps for food.<\/p>\n
His daughter, April Washburn, and her husband, Dan, moved east from Ohio nine years ago. April soon stepped up to help out with CROP Walk. Albrecht and his daughter, with the help of committee members and a supportive community, developed a multifaceted fundraising model for the local walk that has given it a ranking of 22nd per capita, nationally, out of over 2,000 local walks.<\/p>\n
When Albrecht first came on board, T-shirts for the walk carried the names of six sponsors. This year’s shirts bore ink for 131 sponsors. Also, sponsor banners bloom all over the community in the weeks before CROP Walk.<\/p>\n
Forty smaller community sponsor banners reflected total donations of $12,000, with larger banners of platinum sponsors representing larger donations, organizers said.<\/p>\n
This year’s platinum sponsors included Curtis Lumber, High Peaks Tree Removal, Parks Heritage Federal Credit Union, The Great Escape, and Hilltop Construction.<\/p>\n
An annual feature of the Gene DuPell CROP Walk is the Kiss-A-Llama Challenge. Johnny Rocket’s Restaurant at the Great Escape Lodge sponsors a pre-walk fundraiser breakfast, raising over $1400.<\/p>\n
The Outback Restaurant held a luncheon fundraiser that produced over $1800.<\/p>\n
Cooper’s Cave Ale Co. and The Next Door Pub also sponsored events supporting CROP.<\/p>\n
Glens Falls National Bank has for several years sold octagonal “Help CROP STOP Hunger”. This year, STOP sign sales were carried out by another 10 local businesses as well. Sign sales totaled $2,300.<\/p>\n
CROP Committee members were able to collect $4,600 from area coin drops. Donations from walkers came to $11,000.<\/p>\n
More information about the Gene DuPell Memorial CROP Walk can be found by calling Hilltop Construction at 798-0338. Links to CROP Walk can be found on the Hilltop Construction website, hilltopconstruction.com. Information about Church World Service can be found at hunger.cwsglobal.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Barbara Brewer La Mere The 2014 Gene DuPell Memorial CROP Walk raised $51,000 to benefit four local food pantries and the international projects of Church World Service. The Hudson Falls CROP Walk began over 30 years ago. Over the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[66,99],"yoast_head":"\r\n