BANGOR, Maine (WABI) – On August 4th, a Greenville man will begin a journey of more than 200 miles on foot.
Nathaniel Douglass will walk from Bangor to Boston to raise money for the Boston Children’s Hospital.
“Kids in general, got a soft spot for them. I’ve worked in healthcare to some capacity for a little while. Worked on an ambulance for four years, going to nursing school right now, and by far always the most hard hitting stuff is anything involving kids,” Douglass said.
He says he wants to help families who are making that trip, a route he’s all too familiar with.
“In my early 20s, I had to travel to Boston. I had a non-cancerous brain tumor. Driving back and forth was really not a good time. Just thinking of kids, thinking of the travel, thinking about Maine residents especially. Like it’s going to benefit anybody in New England that doesn’t live in Massachusetts. But, I just think about the people in rural Maine who had to travel all that distance. For some of them, probably seems like a foreign land going to Boston from like the county or something, and you’re dealing with your sick kids. So, I was like, I want to do something that represents that trek they make. And the distance they have to go every time they have to see a doctor or have a procedure done,” said Douglass.
The journey is expected to take 16 days as he aims to walk 15 miles each day.
“I’m lucky enough I have a lot of friends and family all throughout New England, so I have free places to stay every night. So, I’m honestly just a really lucky guy. I’m just gonna shut my brain off, walk a bunch, donate some money, maybe get a super sweet tan,” Douglass said.
This isn’t the first time he’s traveled at great lengths to help others.
“Back in 2022, I went and did some volunteer work in Ukraine, and like, that sounded insane. You know, I’m just a dude from the middle of nowhere, you know, Rockwood, Greenville, Maine, and I’m gonna travel halfway around the world to try to make a difference. I did that. I said I was going to do it. I did it. I said I’m going to do this. I’m going to do it,” Douglass said.
“If anything, a big thing I want people to take away from it is just like, I’m by no means a special guy, and anybody can really do this. Again, I’ve been shooting from my hip, and if I can do something like this, anybody can do something like this. So, I’d say if you want to make a difference, just make a difference, man,” said Douglass.
The money raised will go towards travel expenses such as hotels and parking for those families making the trip.
If you’d like to contribute you can click here.
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