STARS watcher’s Weblog

Biker for Mentoring To Arrive in D.C. This Week August 5, 2011

August 2, 2011: For the ninth consecutive year, Gary Walters has embarked on a fund-raising challenge for youth mentoring — this year riding a bicycle from his home state of Minnesota to Washington, D.C.

Walters, as well as his son Jackson and daughter Jessica, left Minnesota in mid-July with plans to reach the nation’s capital by Friday or Saturday so they can meet with legislators to promote mentoring. Then, as the challenge’s Coast to Coast for Kids title implies, the Walters will fly to the West Coast to bike back home, arriving in early September.

Over the previous eight years, Walters has raised more than $120,000 and a lot of awareness for Kinship Partners, the nonprofit youth mentoring organization serving families within the Minnesota communities of Brainerd, Baxter, Crosby, Deerwood, Pequot Lakes, Nisswa, Pine River and Backus.

“Volunteers like Gary and his family have our utmost respect,” said the Mentoring Partnership of Minnesota’s Executive Director Joellen Gonder-Spacek. “It is phenomenal that he and his family have devoted so many of their summers to Minnesota’s young people by doing things that bring attention to the positive benefits of quality youth mentoring and rally people nationwide to make financial pledges to the cause.”

Walters’ adventures include walking the length of Minnesota, losing 100 pounds in one year and rollerblading from Minnesota to Washington, D.C. This summer’s bike ride will cover more than 3,200 miles.

To follow Walters’ progress and get more information on Coast to Coast for Kids, visit http://www.facebook.com/pages/Walters-Wacky-Adventures/89109070891. For more information on quality youth mentoring, go to www.mentoring.org.