I (We) Would Walk Five Hundred Miles…

Just like The Proclaimers sang!

About Us, and Our Story

Hi, our names are Jake and Lauren. We met during a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Ireland back in 2012, where Lauren was working in a hostel after graduating college, and Jake was on a three-week backpacking trip (inspired by a four-leaf clover a week before he took his trip). Our lives together have been adventurous ones, and we're always interested in traveling to new locations, learning new things, meeting new people, and making a difference...

What We're Planning!

This past month, inspired by The Proclaimers's song "I'm Gonna Be (500 Miles)", we started planning a trip to walk the Bruce Trail (http://brucetrail.org/), a 885 km (545 mi) trail in Ontario, which starts in Tobermory and ends close to Niagara Falls. We hope to do this in August, before our wedding in September, in 30 km per day segments. At this rate, it'll take us 30 days to cover the distance, end-to-end.

We figured this would be a good way to see the amazing landscapes of Jake's country (Canada), while Lauren is living here, as well as give us the ability to work "500 miles" somewhere into our vows! Soon after, we decided to come to the Go Get Funding website to fundraise, but not just for us...

Why Should You Be Interested, or Get Involved?

Lauren and I are hoping to use our trip to raise funds for others, specifically:

• Wounded Warriors Canada (http://woundedwarriors.ca/): As Jake served in the Canadian Forces for 8 years and Lauren's father with the US Army for over 20 years, we hope to raise money for other members of the Forces who have been injured while protecting the rights and freedoms of others, and

• The Bruce Trail Conservancy (https://brucetrail.org/store/donate): As a trail maintained entirely through volunteers, we hope to donate funds toward the maintenance of this incredible trail, to preserve it for the enjoyment of others.

In order for us to do this though, we also need to raise money for provisions. At the rate we're walking, we'll be expending close to 5,000 calories per day, each! For us, this means close to $50/day in food alone! We also need to update our equipment, and purchase water filtration devices, camping gear, and food preparation equipment.

Any amount you'd be willing to donate would be appreciated - although we need to allocate some to the trip, the purpose of the fundraising is to support a very worthwhile organization, as well as Canadian heritage sites.

As Lauren is an author and artist, and I'm well-versed in landscape and portraiture photography, we plan on documenting our travels, both literally and artistically.

How We Plan to Allocate What We Raise

We're hoping to raise as much as we can for the organizations we're hoping to sponsor, and so we need your help! We plan on donating 33% of the funds to Wounded Warriors Canada, 33% to the Bruce Trail Conservancy, and 33% personally, to secure food, equipment, and shelter, with the remainder to help us with our wedding in September.