The College Fix

While many college students spend spring break partying along the ocean shore, some college students found a different reason to head to the beach – to raise money for wounded veterans.

Thirty one members of Troy University’s chapter of Alpha Tau Omega recently took on a six-day, 128.3-mile hike from Troy, Alabama, to Panama City Beach, Florida, to raise money for a wounded warrior program as part of the fraternity’s annual Walk Hard for Heroes campaign.

Now in its eighth year, students who took on this month’s journey told The College Fix they felt a patriotic call to the effort.

“I have got a lot of family in the military,” said student Jake Rakestraw, a 20-year old member of the fraternity. “My dad was in the Navy, my grandfather was in the Air Force and my other grandfather was in the Army. He served in Vietnam was a bronze metal recipient. And I had a lot of influence of veterans just through my life, and I figured if I can do this — it is a fraction of what they have done for us — but it is a little bit of something just to give back to them.”

Rakestraw made the comments as he and others walked the first – and longest – section of the trek, a 28-mile walk on Day One from Troy to Enterprise, Alabama.

Some of them had trained with practice walks to ready for the real deal. They joked that they made sure to pack plenty of socks. Veterans of the annual fundraiser said it’s no easy feat.

“It was difficult,” said student Drew Kwitch, 22, about his first time in the effort last year. “On day one, I actually started having a lot of joint pains and stuff like that and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness. I don’t know if I can do this.’ This year I am feeling really good, prepped really well and knew what to expect.”

Several students said it’s worth it.

“Being able to give back to our service men and women who sacrificed so much for us on a daily basis and giving up a small portion of spring break doesn’t even amount to what they give up for us,” said Colton Cureton of Alpha Tau Omega in a recent news release.

Alpha Tau Omega has sponsored the Walk Hard fundraiser since 2009, and offers a GoFundMe page to that end. Proceeds are donated to Jeep Sullivan’s Outdoor Adventures, an organization that takes combat-wounded warriors and veterans on outdoor adventures such as hunting and fishing.

This year’s walk launched March 4 and concluded March 9.

Alpha Tau Omega, a national leadership fraternity, was founded at the Virginia Military Institute in 1865 with a “Christian-not Greek-principles” mantra.

In addition to the Alabama-based Walk Hard, a chapter in Michigan this month hosted its Alpha Tau Omega Walks Hard: Many Steps for MS fundraiser, a 160-mile trek to help raise money to find a cure for multiple sclerosis. One member lost a toenail in the annual snowy trek this year, a CBS affiliate reports, adding that over the past four years, they’ve raised more than $100,000 for the National MS Society.

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