Walk with the World!Kathy Villemure, a local retired health care chaplain, is planning to walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela – a nearly 500-mile pilgrimage across Spain - in May and June. She has decided to set up a fundraiser for Refugee Connections Spokane and their work to lift up refugees and immigrants in this community. Kathy says, "The idea to make this pilgrimage is Divinely inspired. When I first heard about the Camino a few years ago, I thought people who considered it were nuts! But I keep getting nudges and God-winks. I know this pilgrimage is for my soul and for my own transformation. I have the feeling it will change my life."
Although I really know very little about the plight of refugees, it's been on my mind for some time that it's totally unfair that a person like me - a privileged American with means and time and freedom and with quality shoes and backpack - can fly to Spain to walk the Camino while others are fleeing for their lives with little or nothing. I'd like to walk in solidarity with them somehow - what's it like to walk 500 miles!? I wondered if my walking could also benefit refugees in some way. Is there a way people could pledge so much a mile or kilometer that I walk, or for the entire pilgrimage, to a local non-profit for refugee assistance? A penny a mile would be $5.00 - that is...if I could actually walk 500 miles! So, i contacted Refugee Connections Spokane and they got the ball rolling. This is not a political idea - I know the plight of refugees is very controversial and very complex. But it's a humanitarian idea - to support people who have come with the clothes on their backs, and to support those who work with them.
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We will post updates as Kathy walks in solidarity with the world! Please note as a memo or e-mail us at rcs@refugeeconnectionsspokane.org to let us know your contribution is for the Camino Pilgrimage Fundraiser. Please send checks to: Refugee Connections Spokane, 35 W. Main Ave. Ste 205, Spokane, WA 99201.