Kenny Hancock, Clinical Nursing Instructor at A-B Tech Community College, went on a 276-mile hike three summers ago and is planning to go again in late August to support a cause that is meaningful to him.
In 2015, Kenny took the hike through the Green Mountains of Vermont from Massachusetts to the U.S./Canada border to raise $3,400 for the Trevor Project, which provides crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQ youth. This time he is hoping to raise $5,000 for Mission 22, which provides multiple traumatic brain injury and Post Traumatic Stress treatment programs to prevent veteran suicide.
“I never thought I would be doing this again, but I started to miss the trail and wanted to pick another charity,” Kenny said. “I heard about soldiers coming home and not doing well. Mission 22 picked its name because an average of 22 veterans a day take their own lives. I couldn’t believe it.”
Kenny works three different nursing jobs where he works as needed at all of them, which gives him flexibility in his scheduling. Nursing is also his second career. He was working in the real estate world about five years ago when his grandmother fell ill. “I fell into the pretend nurse role during her final years and people told me I had gift for it. I tried to think of reasons not to be a nurse and I couldn’t find one,” he said.
The trail involves a lot of mountain climbing with rocky and rough terrain and is regarded in the hiking world as even more difficult than the Appalachian Trail, albeit much shorter, according to Kenny. “The Long Trail is busy and not completely isolated. It goes through populated towns. It’s not the Appalachian trail where it can be desolate and you are isolated for days,” Kenny said. It will take him about five weeks to complete the hike.
Kenny’s fundraising is all pledge driven where people can go to his website and pledge per each mile he completes. He will login while he is on the trail and keep people involved while he is in the wild.
“I didn’t train enough last time,” Kenny said, “I have equipment to deal with some chilly nights. You keep everything you need to survive on your back. It’s pretty cool. It’s amazing how compact they can make stuff. I fit all my clothes in less than a plastic grocery bag and the tent is even smaller.”
Kenny will carry three liters of water at all times and when it comes to food, he plans to send meals to himself via general delivery to post offices along the trail. “When you resupply, the pack weight can be upwards to 30 pounds,” he said.