Ten years ago this summer, Seamus Griesbach chose an unusual way to travel to campus for the start of his freshman year at Saint Anselm College. He and his younger brother walked the 130 miles from their home in Lisbon Falls, Maine. The following year, Seamus got more than 30 friends to accompany him on the walk and the Road for Hope walk for charity was born.
Seamus Griesbach is now an ordained priest in the Diocese of Portland, Maine. And the Road for Hope has become an annual event, involving since its inception hundreds of Saint Anselm students and staff, and raising tens of thousands of dollars for nine charities along the route.
This year more than 50 students will leave from the Dana Center parking lot Friday, Aug. 22, bound for Lewiston, Maine, where the following day the will begin the eight-day backpacking trek. They will sleep in churches, parks and school gymnasiums, and pray and participate in the Mass, before they return to campus, with blistered feet and joyful hearts, on Saturday, Aug. 30.
“The Road for Hope is based on the idea that by simply walking through the countryside we can change the world for the better,” states the Road for Hope mission statement. “ In a time when most of us are speeding through life, the Road for Hope speaks to the value and joy of a slow walk.”
The charities and social service organizations that the walk supports were chosen because of their small size, making the Road for Hope donations more significant. Some of the organizations now rely on the Road for Hope for a major portion of their funding.
The charities are Birthline, in Portland, Maine; Community Concepts, in Auburn, Maine; Good Shepherd Food Bank, in Auburn, Maine; Parent Resource Center, in Sanford, Maine; St. Charles Children’s Home, in Rochester, N.H.; Recreation Arena and Youth Services, in Rochester, N.H.; Candia Moore Drug Awareness Program, in Candia, N.H., Kids’ Café, in Manchester, N.H.; UpReach Therapeutic Riding Center, in Goffstown, N.H.
“The Road for Hope seeks to provide funds for the needy, strengthen the bonds in our communities, and rekindle the belief that every footstep makes a difference,” the mission statement states.
For more information, please call Campus Ministry at (603) 641-7130