The 320 miles in wind, rain, blistering sun and whatever else Mother Nature doles out takes an incredible amount of resolve.
Yet the Alle-Kiski Valley veterans participating in the 16th annual PA Hero Walk remain undaunted.
The group, ranging in age from 30 to 73, is on the seventh day of the journey from Philadelphia to Lower Burrell, all in an effort to raise money for the group’s charity work for Pennsylvania veterans.
The walk takes two weeks to complete.
This is Dave Rapacchietta, the organization’s president’s, eighth walk. He said each year, the group piles into a 24-footlong motor home donated to them in 2014 by the Regoli family and one other rental vehicle to drive from Lower Burrell to Philadelphia.
Then they walk back, raising money all the while.
This year’s walk began with participants from Vandergrift, Kittanning, New Kensington, Oklahoma Borough and Ford City. They started at the Museum of Art in downtown Philadelphia on June 8, posing with the “Rocky” statue at the foot of the museum.
“We motivate each other every day,” Rapacchietta said Friday in a phone interview from the road. “This is almost like going on vacation for two weeks. We’re treated like rock stars at every place we go to.”
The walk is not without its challenges. The group faces a five-day trek through the Allegheny Mountains from Chambersburg to Shanksville.
“It’s basically five miles up on a nine-degree incline with no shade,” Rapacchietta said. “You have to have strong mental fortitude to do this. You can tap out and say, ‘Hey — I’m going home.’
“But no one does.”
Rapacchietta, of Vandergrift, served for eight years in the Army Reserves during the Desert Storm era. He’s accompanied by a 73-year-old Vietnam War veteran, a Navy veteran who was deployed during Desert Storm and the second Gulf War, and three men who served in Iraq, among other service members.
They’re expected to finish their walk at VFW Post 92 in Lower Burrell on Friday, June 21.
Rapacchietta, 59, hopes to continue the walk, but there’s one major obstacle the group has to overcome. The donated motor home is on its last legs. In addition to some small interior issues — including a broken air conditioning — the exterior of the vehicle is worn out, Rapacchietta said.
“The vehicle’s wearing out, and we’re desperately trying to replace it so we can continue our mission,” Rapacchietta said. “We’re going to be lucky if we get one more year out of it.”
As well as carrying the members to the starting line, the vehicle holds supplies for the walkers, shirts and hats they sell, and serves as refuge from nature’s more intense elements. It’s necessary for the walk, which raised $97,000 last year.
“The most important thing about the motor home is as we walk across the state, it goes up the road one mile and waits for us to walk up to it,” Rapacchietta said. “Once the last person gets up to it, it goes down another mile. It gives you a chance to go in the motor home and take a little break, change socks and shoes and just to cool off.”
In an effort to avoid using funds that have been collected for year-round charity projects, the group has started a GoFundMe page to help with the funds.
The organization helps between 90 and 100 veterans and gives away $90,000 to $150,000 per year depending on their projects.
“We don’t want to use that money,” Rapacchietta said. “We’re trying to find money somewhere else because we want to be able to continue our mission.
