On Aug. 18, Jan Hieminga of Knox, Oakville, Ont., began an 800-kilometre walk along the ancient El Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage that takes hikers from France, over the Pyrenees mountains and into Spain.
Hieminga, who will be joined at various points of the trek by his daughter and two sons and met at the end by his wife, Lynne, is 71 years old, and admits that he has had several moments of waking in the night, wondering, “What have I done?”
But Hieminga is walking for a reason other than his own spiritual journey. As chair of the board for the Jane-Finch Reaching Up program, which offers after-school help, music classes and summer camp, he hopes to raise $71,000 for a newly renovated facility (which will cost a total of $5 million) to house the program and other community initiatives. The program targets children and youth and is located in University Presbyterian in the Jane-Finch area of downtown Toronto—a neighbourhood plagued by poverty, drugs, gangs and violence.
“An architect study has shown that to expand the University Presbyterian Church into a community center that can be used seven days a week makes ultimate sense,” said Hieminga.
“I look forward to having 40 days to walk, meditate and pray that God will guide us, direct us and open doors to make this dream a reality. Please pray for me, for Jane-Finch Reaching Up and for a new building.
You can follow Hieminga’s progress on his blog.
