A Michigan pastor has embarked on a 200 mile walk from the Mackinac Bridge to the Abundant Life Mission in Menominee, in an effort to raise $100,000 for the benefit of homeless people.
Rev. Dave Pennell will do the 200 mile journey bearing a 30-pound wooden cross on his shoulder and hopes to complete it in six days.
"We all have a cross to bear. The Bible tells us that and my cross is for the homeless and the addicted," Pennell said to Fox 11.
The pastor said that the fundraising drive is important to his church because there is a need to help more people. The church currently functions as a shelter but it can only accommodate 24 people.
To address the issue, the church has purchased the former Catholic Central School building in Menominee to expand their services. Recent records show that there is a growing need for homeless support services, especially those catering for kids.
"There's a federal agency called McKinney-Vento and they're in the schools and the last report at Marinette school system, there was almost 100 kids that would fall under the definition of homeless," said Pennell.
His church has already started making renovations to the school structure, but there is a lot more work to be done.
"Our goal is to bring awareness to the growing homeless population in the Upper Peninsula. We are praying to raise at least $100,000 for the continued growth at Abundant Life Mission to enable us to help more people. Abundant Life Mission is the only homeless mission in the Upper Peninsula that takes in full families," the church's fundraising appeal at YouCaring.com read.
According to Abundant Life Mission's Facebook page, they have since had to create an alternative account on GoFundMe for the fundraising drive after experiencing technical issues with the YouCaring processor. Their GoFundMe page, entitled The Walk 2: Mack & Back! has raised $11,755 of its goal and has been shared on social media 419 times.
This is not the first time the pastor walked for the homeless. Last year, he successfully made the journey from the Abundant Life Church and Mission in Menominee to its sister church in Kingsford to raise money for church projects. After completing the walk, he was able to raise around $5,000.
