California man walks thousands of miles for charity, stops in New Mexico
NEW MEXICO (KRQE) – One California man is making it his mission to walk across the entire United States for a good cause and just passed through the Land of Enchantment. “March 10, I took my first steps out of the water in Myrtle Beach and I’m walking all the way home basically,” says Ranger Kielak, a life coach from California. He’s walking across the United States with a mission behind each mile.
“My mission for the walk is to highlight, learn from, and work with people in the U.S. who are making a difference in their communities,” says Kielak. He’s meeting up with nonprofits, business owners, and community members while documenting their conversations in his podcast.
“I hope that somebody else can pull apart pieces of my story or the stories of those that I share along the way,” he says.
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Through it all, he’s raising money for three nonprofits including National Future Farmers of America, an organization he was involved in as a kid. “The money I raise for them are [sic] going to go towards their project grants so that more kids have an opportunity to really dive into the program,” says Kielak.
He started walking through New Mexico last month, and he says he loves New Mexico’s landscape. Kielak has been saving money and training for the walk for years. While he’s faced some setbacks like monsoon season in New Mexico, he keeps going, all with some help from the community.
“I’ve been able to line up host families for the majority of the walk. I’ve only had to sleep outside a few times,” he says.
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Kielak left New Mexico on Thursday and is now in Arizona. He hopes to finish his journey in California and jump into the Pacific Ocean at the end of August.
Through the thousands of miles walked, Kielak says he’s learned there are good people everywhere making a difference. He hopes to inspire others with what he’s accomplished. “Being able to push out the message that anybody can do the crazy thing as long as they put their mind to it,” Kielak says.
So far, Kielak has raised $8,000 but his goal is $100,000. He says to contact him directly on his Facebook account to get in touch.
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