Chapel Council's Annual Cranksgiving Gives Back

AMANDA HAUSMANN ’21
STAFF WRITER
Trinty’s annual Cranksgiving bicycle race took place on Saturday, Nov. 18. The event was organized by Trinity’s Chapel Council and benefited the Place of Grace Food Pantry at Grace Episcopal Church in Hartford. This was the sixth annual race and consisted of both Trinity students and Hartford cyclists who rode around Hartford, stopping at different checkpoints to buy groceries, finishing at the food pantry. There was also a kids’ race whose route ran around Trinity’s campus. Cranksgiving coordinators offered to provide bikes to those who wanted to participate but did not have one, if they were notified prior to the day of the event.
Trinity’s Cranksgiving tradition was started by Richard Wegener, a member of Grace Lutheran Church, and Trinity’s former Senior Associate Director of Leadership Giving James Ebert. This year’s event was organized by College Chaplain Alison Read, Professor of Language and Culture Studies Johannes Evelein, Chapel Council Treasurer Hazel Robertson ’19, and Cassia Armstrong ’18.
This year, there were approximately 45 cyclists. Three of the participants were Trinity students and five were professors. Additionally, there were around 20 volunteers from the campus and community who helped make the day run smoothly. Chapel Council Treasurer Robertson estimates that there was at least 800 pounds of food donated. Robertson also notes that in comparison to previous years, “the weather wasn’t particularly favorable, but we still had a rather decent turnout and managed to score hundreds of pounds of donations, even though the race had a smaller number of participants.”
Looking forward to next year, Robertson says that, “we (Chapel Council) are looking forward to expanding the race to more people and incorporating campus clubs and teams to participate in or help with the race’s setup and execution. We have enjoyed building our Cranksgiving community and look forward to expanding it so we are able to best help those in need.” Chapel Council member Brendan Clark ’21 also adds that the “Chapel Council is always looking for opportunities to give back to the community and considers itself blessed to have been a part of this endeavor.”