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Thursday, July 16, 2009
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A capital idea: Gary Walters and son will skate to Washington
to raise awareness for Kinship Partners Staff Writer Mr. Walters is going to Washington. And he'll be getting there on in-line skates.
Gary Walters on Wednesday announced his latest Kinship Partners challenge, in-line skating for almost a month from Brainerd to Washington, D.C., with his son, Jackson.
Gary Walters' Kinship challenges are an effort to raise funds and awareness for Kinship Partners, the nonprofit organization that matches adult mentors with children.
In 2003, he biked from Baxter to New Orleans. In 2004, he camped out for more than a week on top of Brainerd's historic water tower. In 2005, he walked the length of Minnesota in 17 days. In 2006, he swam across Lake Mille Lacs. In 2007, he lost 100 pounds in a year. In 2008, he unicycled around the track at Adamson Field.
He got the idea for this year's challenge during a church service.
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Gary Walters (left) and his son, Jackson, rode their in-line skates Wednesday across the Paul Bunyan Trail pedestrian bridge over Excelsior Road. The two are getting ready for Walters' latest Kinship Partners challenge - in-line skating from Brainerd to Washington, D.C., to raise awareness for the mentoring program. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
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"I was wondering what would be really cool?" Gary Walters said. "We'd talked about Rollerblading 100 miles, or Rollerblading for 24 hours and I went, 'No, let's go all the way.'
"The first person I talked to about it was my son. I said, 'Jackson, what do you think?' and right away he said..."
"I don't care," Jackson Walters joked, cutting off his dad's sentence.
"He didn't say that," Walter responded with a laugh. "He said he thought it would be a great idea."
Gary and Jackson Walters will leave Brainerd on Aug. 13 and expect to arrive Sept. 9 on the Capitol steps in Washington, D.C., where they will be greeted by Congressman Jim Oberstar.
The 28-day event will consist of 21 days of in-line skating along U.S and state highways - roads with concrete shoulders - with an average of 50-70 miles expected to be covered each day. Gary Walters' wife and daughter will be following behind in a vehicle.
While Jackson Walters is an old hand at in-line skating, Gary Walters said he'd never really tried it before he decided upon this event. So far he's gone about 10 times covering about 100 miles, with his longest non-stop trek being 16 miles.
Asked where this ranks among his several Kinship challenges, Walters said it may be one of the more difficult tasks.
"I always get the concept, buy into the concept and have to commit to the concept before I think about the details," Gary Walters said. "When I got into details I said this was dumb, just dumb. I said, 'We can't do this, this is just crazy. I'm not an in-line skater.'"
What convinced him to follow through on the idea is getting another chance to raise awareness for Kinship Partners, he said.
"If a short, fat, middle-age guy can do something as crazy as this everybody should be able to give some time mentoring a kid," Gary Walters said.
David Downing, Kinship Partners executive director, appreciates Gary Walters' efforts. In fact, Downing is highlighting the need for mentors by having Gary and Jackson Walters meet with other mentoring groups during his trek to Washington, D.C.
Downing said the waiting list for mentors in Brainerd alone is up to 50 kids.
"We're seeing a lot greater need for our program in the last year or so," Downing said. "I like to tell people our mission isn't in a recession. Financially we still need support because of so many kids we're still having to support."
Gary Walters and Kinship Partners will be partnering with the Dispatch to offer live video feeds, a map with Gary and Jackson's GPS location and information on how people can become a mentor or donate money for the organization.
In each of Gary Walter's past six Kinship challenges between $7,000-$25,000 has been raised for Kinship Partners. His hope is that he raises somewhere between that range for this year's challenge.
"We know times are tough but every little dollar helps," he said.
MATT ERICKSON may be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.
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