SARATOGA SPRINGS – We have many great events for great causes year-round here and the giving spirit of our community compares favorably with anywhere. One event that sometimes can fly under people’s radar is the annual CROP Walk, which takes place this Sunday, Oct. 26.
The Walk will originate on the site of the Spirit of Life Statue in Congress Park. Pre-registration is 12:30 p.m., an Opening Ceremony is at 1 p.m. and the Walk about 1:20 p.m. The CROP Walk is free and open to the public.
There is still time to participate, and many excellent reasons why you should. It is the epitome of an event that speaks to the phrase “think globally, act locally.”
One person who has been very involved with the CROP Walk in Saratoga Springs for years is former Mayor Ken Klotz. I asked him to provide readers with some relevant background in bullet-point form as to the nature of the event, its many goals and worthwhile projects. Here is his account:
- This is our 35th annual CROP Walk in Saratoga Springs. There are nearly 2000 such local walks around the country. These walks raise about 30 percent of the $70 million budget which funds Church World Service (CWS) projects around the world. CWS is an interdenominational organization founded in the late 1940s to provide aid to Eastern Europe after WWII. CROP Walks were introduced as an educational and funding tool in the 1960s.
- Today CWS has dozens of projects around the world, in virtually every corner of the globe: North America, the Caribbean, Central America, and America, Africa, Europe and Asia. Projects serve refuges from wars and disasters and provide hunger relief and access to fresh water in nations where people are starving. Where possible projects provide the tools for long-term solutions to the problem of hunger.
- CWS combats hunger in the US as well as abroad. CROP Walks funded hurricane relief after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans and more recently provided for victims of flooding in Colorado. 25 percent of funds raised from local CROP Walks are returned to the local community, in our case to Saratoga County Economic Opportunity Council.
- CROP is the acronym for Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty. CROP Walks are supported by many churches and synagogues but also by local schools, businesses, community organizations, and other secular groups committed to fighting world hunger.
- Fifty years ago it was generally thought “40 percent of the world goes to bed hungry.” Today that percentage is closer to 15 percent because of advances in agricultural techniques and refinements in techniques to combat hunger. Because of the increase in world population, however, the raw number of persons who die daily from starvation, thirst, or diseases related to malnutrition or lack of access to pure water, mostly women and children, remains the same, about 25,000. Note that this is approximately the population of Saratoga Springs!
- Our local CROP Walk will cover about 3 miles, following a route around downtown, mostly on Broadway. Walkers can do as much or as little of the full walk as they wish to. The Saratoga Springs CROP Walk crossing guards are members of Skidmore College varsity athletic teams
- Many CROP Walks are much longer. The Saratoga Springs CROP Walk used to follow a route up Union Avenue all the way to Yadoo before returning to Congress Park. CROP Walks in other communities are sometimes marathons of 15 miles or longer!
- The biggest CROP Walks in the region are in Hudson Falls and in Schenectady. Both are held in the spring. The Hudson Falls walk features a llama-kissing contest, with the clergy person raising the most money awarded the prize of kissing the llama!
Learn more about the problem of world hunger and ways to combat it by clicking on the website cropwalk.org or by calling (518) 587-1534.
