Falmouth Housing Authority Director Robert H. Murray is raring to go for the start next week of the 16th Annual Housing With Love Walk, a 107-mile walk through all 15 Cape Cod towns from Provincetown to Falmouth.
The walk is the biggest fundraiser of the year for local housing agencies.
Last year, the walk raised $232,000. “We’re shooting for that elusive $250,000 this year,” he said.
Mr. Murray plans to walk the entire course, as he does every year.
Last year, he said he believes his secret to success in avoiding dehydration was a combination of tomato juice and water, a formula he plans to stick with this year.
The walk begins Monday in Provincetown and ends on Sunday, July 20, with a party at Liam Maguire’s Irish Pub & Restaurant on Main Street.
At the beginning of the walk, among the participants joining Mr. Murray will be Richard E. Kendall of Green Harbor Road, East Falmouth, who works as a certification clerk at the housing authority, in addition to being involved with numerous volunteer organizations in town.
Mr. Kendall said he typically joins in on the last two days of the event, Saturday, July 19 from Route 151 in Mashpee to Falmouth Center, and Sunday, July 20, from the Falmouth Village Green to Woods Hole and back to Main Street.
But this year, he decided to do the Provincetown leg of the walk as well, in order to experience the beauty of that end of the Cape and to participate in the celebratory start of the walk. As for the physical toll, Mr. Kendall said it is no problem for “an old Marine,” like himself.
The two Falmouth sections of the walk generally get a good turnout, from 30 to 35 people, and it’s a collegial crew, according to Mr. Kendall.
Throughout the course of the walk, Mr. Murray is usually joined by 350 to 400 people.
Mr. Kendall said he continues to be amazed at Mr. Murray’s ability to build coalitions and pull individual agencies together through the walk.
Mr. Murray said the number of participants throughout the walk is usually contingent on how hot it is. But he said getting past the heat factor is a key part of the challenge.
“The walk is designed to be tough. You have to remember how tough it is for the people you’re walking for,” Mr. Murray said.
Mr. Murray pointed out that one highly publicized part of the shaky economy is the fact that a lot of people throughout the country have lost their homes this year through foreclosure, and Cape Cod is no different.
Money raised on the walk can be used to help some of those people with housing costs.
But besides the money earned during the walk, a key benefit of the event is the opportunity it gives for housing organizations to network, Mr. Murray said.
“It strengthens bonds between different housing entities. We collaborate a lot through the course of the year with many of them. We get cases that are too expensive for one to handle, so they pick up the phone and can usually get a partner to help with the problem,” Mr. Murray said.
The walk benefits 11 housing organizations. On the Upper Cape, it benefits the Falmouth Homeless Prevention Program, which has been particularly in need of funds this year, Mr. Murray said.
“This year was the highest year ever in terms of funds spent in the program,” Mr. Murray said. The program averages $40,000 to $45,000 given out in assistance each year. Last year, the program gave out $64,000, in what Mr. Murray called “a huge jump.”
The year ahead is expected to be even more difficult for those struggling to pay bills and housing costs, because of the rising cost of oil, Mr. Murray said.
“That will put a lot of people in a bind. We haven’t figured out how to deal with that yet,” Mr. Murray said.
Figuring out how to meet those ever-growing needs will be next on the agenda for Mr. Murray after he finishes next week’s walk.
Two new organizations are participating for the first time this year.
One of those, Homeless not Hopeless, was founded by two formerly homeless people and it rents out rooms in a couple of homes in Hyannis. The group has already helped 23 people in less than one year in existence.
The other groups that receive money from the walk are Chatham Ecumenical Council for the Homeless, Lower Cape Cod Community Development Corporation, Overnights of Hospitality Case Management Services, Highland Affordable Housing, Interfaith Council for the Homeless of Lower Cape Cod, Friends of Prisoners/Guindon House, St. Vincent De Paul Society-Cape and Islands District, and Harwich Ecumenical Council for the Homeless.