On Friday, May 23, three college freshmen trudged back into their native Sussex County from their North Carolina and Virginia colleges in an effort to raise money, support and awareness for the Justin W. Jennings Foundation and Justin’s Beach House.
Coastal Point • Ruslana Lambert
Sean Cummings, Daniel Kleinstuber and Pierson Roenke, all 2007 Indian River High graduates, were accompanied by friends and family as they made their way along Route 26 in Bethany last Friday to finish the two-week, 400-mile walk that netted the foundation nearly $3,000.
Cummings and Kleinstuber, soon-to-be-sophomores at University of North Carolina Wilmington and Cape Fear Community College in Wilmington, N.C., respectively, and Roenke, of Virginia Tech, walked back to Delaware, starting May 9.
Enduring tiring hikes of up to 30 miles a day, and an array of aches and pains, the three pushed forward. They were welcomed and congratulated by those closest to them and others, as well, with a pig roast at the site of the Justin’s Beach House, across from St. Ann’s Catholic Church.
MaryEllen Nantais, Jennings’ mother and founder of the non-profit organization, plans for construction on the charity home for suffering families and children to begin later next year. The foundation has already raised close to $300,000, with a goal of $1 million.
For more information about the walk and the foundation, visit www.thejwjfoudation.org online.