Roughly a decade ago Brenda Petroski found inspiration from missionaries who visited her church. They wanted to bring clean water to Central Africa. Now at the age of 60 Petroski is ready to do her part to make that happen.
In 2 weeks the Columbia, Lancaster County native will travel to Georgia to begin her trek along the Appalachian Trail to Maine. “I’m anxious to see Spring in the woods” said Petroski.
She’s also eager to make good on a pledge. “Trying to raise twenty thousand dollars for well maintenance in the Central African Republic” said Petroski.
She figured the walk would call attention to bringing clean water to war-torn Central Africa. It was a book she read 4 years ago that helped her settle on walking the trail. “I’m not going out to prove anything, I’m just going to go as far as I can and I hope that’s the whole way. I want to raise that money” said Petroski.
She’s planned this walk since January of last year and has trained for the last few months. Petroski is excited, but her family is divided. “My kids are not happy at all about me going. My husband backs me up” said Petroski.
She hopes to finish her walk sometime in September, but her story to inspire others has already begun. “If you can encourage somebody to get out of that safety zone you’re always stuck in and do something that you know is way beyond what you ever thought you could do, you need to do that” said Petroski.
If you would like to donate to her cause click here. Once at the site click “donate” then click on the water menu bar and click Brenda’s photograph.