Trekking the Camino de Santiago for YMCA Strong Kids Campaign
In a few days Doris Mady, Creative Director for the White Plains Business Improvement District (BID), will board a plane to Madrid, Spain to begin a 147-mile trek along the Camino de Santiago, also known as the Way of St. James, a 1000 year old Heritage Trail to Santiago de Compostela in Northern Spain.
She will be joined by eight other team members, all with a mission to complete the trip and raise funds for the White Plains YMCA Strong Kids Campaign.
Anthony Montalbano, Vice President/Executive Director White Plains YMCA and his wife Margie Chu were the originators behind the trek. As avid hikers they were attracted to the several hundred miles long path and determined it would make the perfect challenge for a team fundraiser.
Montalbano’s wife Margie, left on August 15th. She began the trek on the French side of the Pyrennes and is now in Spain. She will hike a total of 500 miles and will be joined by the YMCA team for the final 12 days of the trek. She is in daily contact with supporters through email and says she is looking forward to meeting fellow team members on the trail.
For Mady, who has worked for the BID for 11 years, the experience not only provides an opportunity to raise funds to support a good cause, it is also a personal quest. Having turned 71 this year, Mady said she began taking physical fitness seriously five years ago when she joined the Y and sought the help of a physical trainer. “I feel much stronger today and ready to take on this challenge,” she says. “I want the physical as well as the mental challenge.”
Mady made the decision to join the hiking team six weeks ago and has been in serious training ever since. “I walk every day, increasing the number of miles I can go comfortably, each time,” she explained in an interview last week. Guidelines suggest that two to three weeks out, the hiker should be able to handle 10 miles comfortably.
Mady expects to walk between 15 to 20 miles each day during the trek. It seems like a lot for someone to suddenly take on, but Mady claims she loves to walk and does so regularly, though not at such a strenuous pace.
She’s been carefully selecting the gear she will take with her and has settled on one pair of hiking boots and sneakers, which she will wear on alternate days. The large pieces of luggage will be sent on to each inn separately, so the hikers don’t have to carry all their necessities on their backs, just the immediate basics.
Mady thanks Manny Polloni of American Terrain Outdoors and Andy Kimerling of Westchester Roadrunner, both White Plains retailers, for helping with her selections and supporting the YMCA cause.
Somewhat familiar with the Camino trail – in 2008 she had spent some time at a friend’s house that opened onto the path and walked a few miles – Mady knows she will be tested and looks forward to the experience. Emails from those on the trail indicate the first level is physical, then mental, followed by a spiritual awakening.
The White Plains YMCA Strong Kids Campaign provides financial assistance to children and families in need. In 2013, over $140,000 will be raised enabling children to attend camp, after-school and pre-school programs as well as providing assistance so individuals can participate in programs and membership.
Visit www.crowdrise.com/ycaminodesantiagoymca/fundraiser/ymcaofcentralandnort to make a donation and follow Mady’s progress on the trail. Links from the site will also allow you to follow other members of the team and make donations there as well.
