The End is Nigh...

We’re still walking, as we have been for a while.  And, although the journey itself has been the primary focus, we’re starting to think about the destination.  Our goal, secret until now, so, drum roll please, is San Martin Sacatepequez in Guatemala, 3,723 miles from Delmar, NY.  This is the location of our prayer partner La Iglesia Presbiteriana El Verbo Divino.  For more than 30 years, Albany Presbytery has been in partnership with Mam Presbytery in Guatemala sharing faith and friendship.  When we set out on an epic walk at the beginning of Lent, our sister congregation seemed like a fitting virtual end point.

The physical end point will be St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Albany, not because it bears any resemblance to the western highlands of Guatemala, but because it is the host of the John U. Miller Memorial CROP Hunger Walk on Sunday, May 3^rd.  Here we hope to turn all our miles of walking into funds for the CROP Hunger Walk.  If you’ve been around Delmar Pres for any length of time, you probably know that we’ve been participating in the CROP Hunger Walk for many years, but how much do we really know about it and what we’re raising money for?

So what is a CROP Hunger Walk?  CROP Hunger Walks are sponsored by Church World Service.  CWS was founded in 1946 in the wake of World War II by seventeen Christian denominations, including the Presbyterian Church (USA), “to do in partnership what none of us could hope to do as well alone.”  Over 80 years on from the end of WWII, it is hard to imagine the devastation the war wrought on Europe and Asia.  Up to 65 million people in Europe were displaced from their homes.  In Germany alone, 4.8 million housing units were destroyed.  In the UK, rationing of food, which began in 1940, didn’t end until 1954.  Some 20 to 25 million people died as a result of famine during and immediately after WWII, either directly of hunger or due to hunger-related diseases.  That’s compared to 21 to 25 million direct military casualties.  Sir Winston Churchill, Britain’s war-time Prime Minister said, in his 1946 “The Sinews of Peace” speech given at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri, “When I stand here this quiet afternoon I shudder to visualize what is actually happening to millions now and what is going to happen in this period when famine stalks the earth.” Church World Service began by mobilizing more than 11 million pounds of food, clothing and medical supplies to Europe and Asia.

Maybe at this point you’re asking if CROP is an actual acronym or just really poor attention to detail when editing the post.  It is in fact an acronym, albeit an orphan one (see below), so what does CROP stand for?  The Christian Rural Overseas Program began in 1947 as a mission of CWS.  “Christian” is self explanatory, as is “Overseas” (see above on supplies to Europe and Asia), but the “Rural” part is less obvious.  The answer is that the program’s primary mission was to help Midwest farm families to share their grain with hungry neighbors in post-World War II Europe and Asia, hence the “Rural”.  CROP is now an orphan acronym (an acronym that is no longer expanded to its original words - think AT&T or SAT*), as the program has outgrown its origins, but it lives on in the CROP Hunger Walks.

The first walk to be officially called the “CROP Walk for the Hungry” was held in 1970 in York, Pennsylvania.  Although it may be the first official walk, the brains behind it, Rev. Roger Burtner, was inspired by an event held the previous year in Bismarck, North Dakota.  Over a thousand people, led by skeleton-costume-clad teenagers carrying signs showing starving children, raised $25,000, almost $225,000 in today’s dollars.

Today, there are more than 1,300 CROP Hunger Walks every year.  In the last twenty years, over 5 million people have walked in more than 36,000 CROP Hunger Walks.  While Church World Service sponsors the walks, 25% of the proceeds stay in the local communities to help stop hunger right in our own communities.

CWS started by reacting to post-war needs and resettling refugees.  Today, while it still responds to disasters and helps refugees, much of the focus is on long-term development.  These are some of the stories of people impacted by CWS and CROP Hunger Walk funds.

• Alodia González lives in rural Paraguay and learned about planting seeds, growing food and beekeeping in a CWS-sponsored program.  Now she and her family can eat fresh homegrown produce and have extra income from selling honey.

• Esmeralda Robles lives in Honduras and participated in a CWS-led program on food security and climate change.  As part of the program she received an eco-friendly stove to replace the firewood that left her with a chronic cough and a house covered in soot every time she cooked.

• Hak Nhy and her husband Kim Dorn live in Western Cambodia, where they have always grown their own food.  A changing climate and after-effects of the pandemic left them barely enough to eat from their garden.  A CWS educational program gave her skills and knowledge on vegetable gardening, adapting to the changing weather conditions and compost making.  Now they grow enough for their own family and can sell the surplus.

• In Moldova, Ukrainian refugees fleeing from war are supported by a local organization in partnership with CWS.  One of the programs is the LudoBus, which distributes school supplies, but also provides safe space to talk and share feelings for hundreds of Ukrainian children

One of the local beneficiaries of CROP Hunger Walk funds locally is Loaves and Fishes Outreach Ministries, a ministry of the Episcopal Diocese of Albany.  On average they serve 425 meals a week, and the reason they need to do that is because in Albany County 1 in 9 adults are food insecure, 1 in 7 children go without enough to eat and 30% of residents live below the poverty line.  Loaves and Fishes Outreach Ministries offers freshly prepared nourishing meals, clean clothing, hygiene items, school supplies and connections to resources.

This Lent and into the Easter season and beyond, the miles have been for us - a spiritual practice of intentionally walking our faith.  Now it’s time for those miles to be for someone else.  If you’re a member or friend, or even just a really invested blog reader, join our team or sponsor one of our walkers.

2026 CROP Hunger Walk - Delmar Presbyterian Church.

If you are ready to walk then we hope to see you on May 3^rd, 2026! Contact the office for more information.  office@delmarpres.org or 518-439-9252.

• The 45th Anniversary CROP Hunger Walk in Albany will begin and end at St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 21 Hackett Blvd, in Albany, NY 12208.

• Registration begins at 12:30 in the church hall, with music in the church starting at 12:45.

• Opening Ceremony begins at 1:10 pm, with walkers stepping off at 1:30pm.

• Choice of 1 or 2 mile loops.

• Refreshments served after the walk.

* A footnote on the perils of falling into internet black holes.  Knowing there must be a word for “an acronym that no longer stands for the original words”, led to the discovery of a whole host of interesting words to save for future use.  In addition to “orphan acronym” I present the following.  “Anacronym” * is an acronym where most people have either forgotten or never knew it was an acronym and treat it as a normal word.  Examples include laser (instead of L.A.S.E.R. for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation) or scuba (instead of Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus).  “Lexicalized acronym” is a fancier name for the same thing.  “Initialisms” are pronounced letter by letter and this makes them distinct from acronyms, which are pronounced as words - think FBI versus NASA.  “Backronym” refers to a word treated as an acronym by making up a phrase that fits after the fact.  The United States Congress has a particular affinity for this one - the DREAM (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors) and USA PATRIOT (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism) Acts being recent examples.

** A double footnote! “Anacronym” should not be confused with “anachronym”.  The latter refers to a word whose original meaning has become anachronistic, but is still used for an application today - think dialing a phone, rolling down a car window, silverware, or CC (carbon copy) on an email.