New Hampshire man visits Springfield Ronald McDonald House on 1,000 mile walk

Oct. 8, 2020 | Danielle Eaton
daniellee@thereminder.com

SPRINGFIELD – New Hampshire resident Dwight Barnes has been involved with McDonald’s in one way or another for many years. Now, he’s walking 1,000 miles to give back to the charity he’s grown to love so much, the Ronald McDonald House Charity (RMHC).

Barnes said his journey with the charity began decades ago when he first started working at a McDonalds in Southern New Hampshire. He worked at the restaurant for 30 years, he told Reminder Publishing. During his tenure at the restaurant he also became involved in fundraising for the charity.

“It was our corporate charity and I fell in love with it. I did fundraising for it for 30 years,” he said.

Barnes explained McDonalds restaurants “provide about one-third of the funding the charity needs to operate each year.” They do this by collecting coin donations at checkout, selling hearts and hands displayed at the restaurant that customers can purchase and by donating “three cents from every Happy Meal.”

“All those folks and the customers provide tremendous support to the charities,” he said. Barnes explained that ultimately, he wanted to let people know about the charity and the incredible people supporting it.

Within the last few years, Barnes retired from his job at McDonalds. However, his love and passion for the Ronald McDonald House didn’t end when he left his job. After retiring, Barnes said he began walking daily, and then began walking to Ronald McDonald Houses in the New England area.

“I began walking for my health, and started walking around New England and visiting all the houses,” he said.

This, he said, is when he came up with the idea to walk a 1,000-mile loop around New England while simultaneously fundraising for the charity. The walk, he said, was supposed to be the beginning of a fundraising campaign for RMHC of New England, which has locations in Providence, RI, and Boston Harbor. “I came up with the idea last summer. Initially it was going to be the beginning of a capital campaign for RMHC of New England,” he said. “In Boston they only have 11 rooms right now, they feel like they need another 120 rooms to adequately say yes to families that need services.”

However, when the coronavirus hit the region, he said that plan changed, and the organization “lost their two major fundraisers.” This, he said, “turned the focus of the walk into a fundraising effort to help support the organizational needs this year.”

Barnes began his journey on Aug. 17, at the Boston Harbor RMHC in Charlestown. He said from there, he visited the houses in Portland and Bangor, ME, and Burlington, VT. From there, he made his way down to Springfield, where he was scheduled to visit the house and participate in pre-planned, and socially distanced outdoor programming on Sept. 30. However, due to the rain, Barnes’ visit to the Springfield house was postponed to the next day, Oct. 1.

He said following his Springfield visit, he would then walk down to New Haven, CT, Rhode Island and then end his trip where he began, in Boston. In addition to visiting the houses, Dwight said he also planned on “visiting 65 restaurants along the route.” The reason for the visits, he said, was to “let them know how important what they do [is].”

Barnes said he trained extensively prior to beginning his walk, but his biggest challenge was maintaining the health of his feet. “Just keeping my feet healthy. I trained for thousands of miles before the walk without any blisters,” he said, but added that he’d ultimately developed blisters on his feet throughout his journey. This, he said, had “been a little bit of a challenge.”

While he said the weather had “been a challenge here and there,” he explained the summer had provided him with great weather to do the walk. “The weather has been tremendous,” he said. Barnes said while he had to “sit one day up in Maine,” after they received “remnants of the hurricane, and it poured,” overall the weather had been great. Barnes said he tried not to walk in the rain as it increased the risk of him developing blisters.

“Walking in the rain is tough because your feet get wet, you run the risk of developing more blisters,” he said. Barnes added following the days of walking he missed in Maine, he hadn’t “missed any days since.”

Barnes said while he had done the majority of the walk by himself, he had been fortunate enough to have friends and family that have kept him company along the way and encouraged him to keep going. “I’ve been fortunate enough to have what I call walking buddies with me. Friends, family, folks that are part of my team that are helping me,” he said. “My dad, who is 89, dropped in on me [at one point]. It makes the day go by a little quicker.”

He continued and said, “I’m really quite fortunate to have had the support of my family, friends and team. I don’t know if I would have gotten this far without them.”

Barnes said his favorite part of the journey had been “meeting the people.” He said, “They just love what they do, they love their jobs and that’s always cool to see.”

He said while COVID-19 has made it “a little difficult,” and “thrown them some curveballs,” it was “special to see what they do.”

He said prior to the walk, he “received sponsorships and just straight donations,” online, but had also received generous donations along his route. “I’m close to $1,000 cash donations on the side of the road. [People have] just pull over and given me cash,” he said. “I take pictures of people and their money, and record that and pass that along to the folks down in Rhode Island.”

On the date of his Springfield visit, Barnes said he’d walked about 800 miles and raised more than $91,000. Barnes said he had about 230 miles left to walk. In total, he said he’d end up walking about 1,030 miles and had a goal to raise $250,000.

Those who wish to make a donation to Barnes’ fundraising journey can do so at https://rmhcneorg.harnessapp.com/wv2/campaign/1735. Those interested in his journey can also do so by subscribing to his blog at https://journeyof1000smiles91792009.wordpress.com.

Share this: