NLA contributes $3,000 to the Million Dollar Walk

When local distance walkers Earl “Ole Gorge” Daniel and Joel Butcher, embark on another eight day walk without sleep, dubbed “The Million Dollar Walk”, they will be trying to raise funds for the building of a Caribbean Children’s Hospital here.{{more}}

The Million Dollar Walk, seeks to accumulate a million dollars or more in an effort which will begin at near Niagara Falls in Canada at 2pm, this Saturday August 16, and should culminate on Sunday August 24, in Brooklyn, New York.

Once completed, the duo would cover just under 500 miles.

The North American leg of the walk is the culmination of other sensitization walks held in Bequia, Canouan, in capital, Kingstown, Barbados and Grenada.

At a send off for Butcher last Tuesday afternoon at the Conference Room of the National Lotteries Authority, President of the Rotary Club of St. Vincent South, Cecil McKie outlined that the completion of the walk was specifically timed to coincide with the closing of the Caribbean Netball Championships in New York.

He said that apart from raising the money, Daniel and Butcher were making another attempt to have their efforts inked in the famed Guinness World Book of Records.

However, McKie said that the latter goal was secondary.

He said that the vision of the hospital was born out of the fact that since 2002, the Rotary Club South has been partnering with the Virginia based International Hospital for Children (IHC) visiting medical teams, treating children.

McKie revealed that scores of Caribbean children have already benefited under the project. He said that the establishment of such a hospital in St. Vincent and the Grenadines will ensure that the much needed medical services will be available in the region.

McKie stated that several business entities have chipped in to help his organization to get the walk going.

Wayne Williams, on behalf of the National Olympic Committee, handed over six tracksuits towards the venture, with Kamara Duncan of the National Lotteries Authority, topping up with $3,000.(RT)