I remember doing several of these marches in ’71, 72 and 73′

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“Whatever Happened To? …” is a feature that explores favorite haunts of the past and revisit the headlines of yesteryear. It’s a part­nership between RocRoots.com and “Join if you’re from Rochester New York” on Facebook. Have an idea you’d like us to explore? Email us at rocroots @DemocratandChronicle.com.

Nearly 35,000 people, mostly teenagers, hiked 25 miles for the hospital ship, SS Hope, in 1971. An estimated $425,000 was pledged, 85 percent being donated to Project Hope, and 15 percent to local charities to be determined by the Teen League of Rochester, the sponsors of the Hike for Hope. FILE PHOTO 1971

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO … HIKE FOR HOPE?

’70s teens enthused by cause

Alan Morrell

The year after Woodstock, thousands of people took to the streets of Rochester and its sub­urbs for the first Hike for Hope.

The inaugural hike, in the spring of 1970, drew about 8,000 people. That ballooned to 35,000 in 1971 and about 37,000 each of the next three years.

It was a time of activism and participation, and Rochester­area residents surely took part. The Hike for Hope was a 25­mile trek to benefit Project HOPE, which provided medical care and education to underde­veloped parts of the world through its ship, the SS Hope , and several land-based opera­tions.

The organization had chap­ters throughout the country. Rochester’s was held up as a na­tional model. “It was a phenomenon that just happened,” said James Froehler of Pittsford, who was a regional director for upstate New York for three years. “It just kind of caught fire. It was tried elsewhere, but it just nev­er got off the ground. Other cit­ies that did it were maybe 10 percent the size. This is where it began and took off.”

Participants raised money by per-mile pledges. Junior hikes, no longer than 10 miles, were held at various sites. Rochesterians pledged more than $600,000 in two separate years, according to officials’ es­timates, and more than $2.2 mil­lion was raised in the seven years the Hike for Hope was held here.

“Who would think you could get that many people out col­lecting that much money?” said Froehler, now 66 and owner of People’s Pottery in Pittsford. “Almost out of the box, it be­came a really big thing.”

The Teen League of Roches­ter, with representatives from area schools, organized the hike the first four years. The crowd was mostly young, but not ex­clusively. Some ran, but most walked. Some covered the course in wheelchairs. Unicy­cles, roller skates, stilts and skateboards were occasionally spotted.

Hikers followed different routes each year, usually start­ing and ending at Monroe Com­munity College. Blisters, sprained ankles and pulled mus­cles were common maladies, ac­cording to news accounts. First aid stations were set up along the way, and “Toe Trucks” were there for hikers who couldn’t finish.

“I’ve seen blisters today like you’ve never seen before,” one volunteer from Perinton Volun­teer Ambulance said in a 1973 news story.

An “oasis” with free food and drinks was along the route. Free post-hike concerts were held at the last checkpoint. One fea­tured Harry Chapin.

The mess from such a mass of people was minimal. Police overseeing the hikes often com­mended participants for clean­ing up after themselves.

The 1975 Hike for Hope was the first “country hike,” going from MCC to Mendon Ponds Park and back. Ferdinand J. Smith, then a popular disc jock­ey, landed in a helicopter on a field along the way, “inciting a mad rush of teens to trample across the new wheat to greet him,” a news account stated.

“The farmer who owned the field reportedly was readying his buckshot when the kids were coaxed back to the side­lines.”

That 1975 hike was delayed by two weeks because of rain. The number of hikers dropped to only 10,000 or so, and they were getting younger.

“Hikers over the age of 20 were so rare,” one newspaper reporter wrote, “that one young girl in sandals said in my direc­tion, ‘Hey, there’s a full-grown man.’ ” The average age that year was 16, organizers said.

The last year of the Hike for Hope, 1976, attracted only 8,000 hikers. Rain and a mid-after­noon downpour soaked partici­pants, just as enthusiasm for the event dampened.

Project HOPE closed its Rochester field office that year. Mounting costs and increasing expenses were blamed.

“The logistics involved in do­ing that were tremendous,” Froehler said. “The issue al­ways was how we could get tens of thousands of people through the streets. We certainly had a good time. I’m proud of what I did with the organization.”

The Hike for Hope had quite a run. Better make that, quite a hike. Morrell is a freelance writer from Rochester.
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