The concept seems simple.
12 guys are going for a walk. Their names are Phil Corless, Jim Higley, Whit Honea, Brent Almond, Chris Routly, Michael Moebes, Jeff Bogle, Jason Greene, Michael Wing, Josh Misner, Doug French, and John Pacini.
However, this isn’t just any walk. First, they flew to London. Then, they’re meeting up and walking along Hadrian’s Wall in Northern England. That’s 84 miles, for the record. They’ll do it over several days, of course.
You might be wondering why.
There are two reasons, but they can’t just be listed #1 and #2. Well, maybe they can. The two reasons are Camp Kesem and Oren. These two reasons are intertwined and I’ll need to give you some pieces before I put the puzzle together.
Cancer is a horrible disease. They say we all know someone affected by cancer. I don’t know if that’s actually true, however for me, it is. My maternal grandfather died of prostate cancer. As terrible as his last few years were, though, he still got to know his grandchildren into our adulthood. Others don’t get that chance. Oren was one of those who didn’t. He died at age 42. His son was 7 and his daughter was 4.
Oren Miller was a champion of fatherhood. As a father, he was patient, thoughtful, caring, and many other things. As a blogger, he advocated for fatherhood. He combated the “bumbling dad” image with one he and others felt was more accurate: the strong, caring, involved dad. He also created a group for other dad bloggers, knowing that if we were unified we would have a stronger, more consistent voice. He knew we would support each other, both with our blogs and parenting challenges. The result is a community over 1,000 guys strong. If you’re a member of a City Dads Group, you most likely know at least one of us.
Camp Kesem isn’t just one camp. They run camps all over the country for kids affected by a parent’s cancer. They do this in 80 cities. In 2016 they will serve over 6,000 kids. They don’t just follow the regular camp model of running some sports, nature, swimming and arts and crafts activities. They have all of that, but more than anything they create something special that these kids can’t get anywhere else. Kids come as individuals who have a parent fighting cancer, and they leave as part of a community. With understanding. With belonging. Oh, and by the way, this one-of-a-kind camp experience is FREE to the families.
So with that, here’s the full picture:
12 guys are going for a walk. They are all connected because of Oren. They are walking as a fundraiser. Oren’s alma mater is the University of Maryland. Camp Kesem uses college campuses as their venues. The funds they are raising will support the opening of Camp Kesem at the University of Maryland Honoring Oren Miller.
If you read this post the week we publish it, the guys will be doing the walk as you read. Their mission is to raise $40,000 so that the camp in Maryland can become a reality. All of us in the City Dads Group family are asking for your help so that this actually happens. We want it to happen so the guys doing the walk will feel like they were successful. We want it to happen because Oren was too special a person to *not* have his name on this camp. But most of all, we want it to happen because there are kids and families out there that need this.
If you are so inclined, click here to go to the donation page, and make a donation of any amount.
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