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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

I'm going for a walk, and I'm inviting you

By: Doug Speirs

Posted: 01/30/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

Being a fitness-conscious individual of the male gender, there is nothing I enjoy more than getting bundled up in several metric tonnes of stylish down-filled winter clothing and going for a refreshing walk outside.

Well, if we are going to be brutally honest with each other, it's possible I enjoy lying on the couch, eating greasy, snack-related items and spending an entire weekend watching professional sports on TV just a little bit more.

But that's not the point. The point is I'm really fond of going for a brisk walk in the cold. I'll bet you are, too. So here's my brilliant idea: Let's go for a walk together!

What do you think? Hey, come back here! Give me a chance to explain. There's an excellent reason for us to get together for an invigorating walk tomorrow, namely that we can help make the world a better place.

Ha ha ha! OK, I'm not kidding. What I'm trying to say is that tomorrow we need to meet at the corner of Portage and Main at 12:30 p.m. and join Hannah Taylor for a bracing trek to Higgins Avenue and Main and back again.

Unless you've spent the last 10 years hiding in a drain pipe, you know that Hannah, who just turned 16, is the founder of the Ladybug Foundation, which has raised almost $3 million for Canada's homeless over the last eight years.

And Tuesday, Jan. 31, is National Red Scarf Day, a day when Canadians are urged to buy one of Hannah's trademark red Ladybug scarves and take part in one of about 50 Walk a Mile in Their Shoes events being held throughout the country to help people with nowhere to live and nothing to eat.

(To register to walk, make a donation or buy a scarf, just visit www.ladybugfoundation.ca. The $20 scarves are also available at McNally Robinson Booksellers at Grant Park.)

In Winnipeg, all the cool kids will be turning out for the second annual walk with Hannah. My buddy Bob, who also happens to be our publisher, is coming. The mayor is coming. HOT 103's Ace Burpee is going to be there. And, since I'm afraid to go outside unless I'm protected by an army of people in parkas, I think you should be there, too.

Hannah, who famously began her anti-poverty crusade at the age of five when she saw a homeless man eating out of a Dumpster, will be delighted to see everyone.

But I know she's going to be especially thrilled to walk with a friend named Rick Adams, who is not only a member of the foundation's advisory board, but a man who was homeless for about 30 years.

Hannah met Rick when, at the age of six, she visited a local homeless shelter for the first time. Since that moment, the two have shared a special bond and Rick even spent about eight months living with Hannah's family.

"It's like grandfather and granddaughter," Hannah's mom, my good friend Colleen, explained on Friday. "When he goes missing on the streets, it's terrifying for her."

Last year, Rick wasn't around for the first fundraising walk. "He struggles every day with addiction issues," Colleen said. But this time things will be different. Now that I think of it, that's the real point. By doing something simple, we can make a difference.

"Hannah's hoping that when people walk that mile, they think of the mile homeless people walk every day alone and hungry," Colleen told me. "She also hopes that homeless people will see that Canadians care."

So grab your sexy red scarves and lace up your boots, Winnipeg, because you really look like you could use a walk.

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition January 30, 2012 A2

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