ABOVE: Faith formation students from St. Theresa of the Infant Jesus Church in New Berlin help to “Fill the Wagon.”
By Dc. Tom Cuskey, editor
If you do an online search for “crop walk” you’ll no doubt land on the Crop Hunger Walk home page where a national map is littered with little red place markers noting a local walk. It all started in 1947 with farmers trying to feed a world recovering from World War II.
The world continues to recover from wars, famine, economic decline and other food challenges.
Every effort helps, which leads us to New Berlin, Chenango County, where St. Theresa of the Infant Jesus Church holds an annual walk to help keep a local food pantry stocked for those who are hungry.
The United Methodist Church there hosts the pantry, a mere three-block walk from St. Theresa’s. Crop walking for the pantry and a summer Vacation Bible School are parts of an interreligious collaboration between the two churches serving the village and surrounding area.
Lisa Johnson, the associate director of religious education at St. Theresa’s, says the faith formation students deliver food collected at the church to the pantry with an annual “Fill the Wagon” event. Students deliver, taking turns pulling a wagon loaded with pantry donations through the village.
“We stop and talk about different village landmarks and other churches as we make our way to the food pantry,” she told us. “This year we stopped at a local food store and checked the price of a gallon of milk, a dozen eggs and a jar of peanut butter.” The three items totaled $20, Johnson adding that it was an eye-opener for the students to appreciate how much just a few groceries can cost today.
Johnson also noted, post pandemic, that it is increasingly difficult to attract sponsors for the annual walk. That does not seem to faze the students, though, who give their all into making the delivery and making it happen for those in need in their community.
