Ernie Lopez - 1100 mile Benefit Walk - Camino de Santiago



This year on DATE, 2024 Ernie Lopez will be embarking on his third Camino de Santiago walk. This 1100 mile trek will take around two months to complete and this effort is being paired with supporting MetroSquash. All funds raised through this campaign will go towards MetroSquash, a local nonprofit organization supporting Chicagoland youth for nearly twenty years! MetroSquash utilizes a holistic model that empowers students to become squash-playing adults with social and economic stability. Students from Metrosquash hold a 98% college enrollment rate, 88% college persistence rate, and 85% have secured full-time employment. 

There are two ways to support: 
  - Per Mile: donate to the walk by supporting each mile walked by Ernie 
  - Outright: donate to the campaign directly! 

There are three "Per-Mile" levels
   - Gold - $10 per mile walked
  - Silver - $5 per mile walked
  - Bronze - $1 per mile walked


Thanks to the generosity of our Sponsorship Committee we are matching the first $10,000 in donations! Please donate today to double your impact on Chicagoland youth in underserved communities. 

To donate by check, make checks payable to: MetroSquash 
Please mail your check to: 
Jake Oher
MetroSquash
6100 S Cottage Grove Ave
Chicago, IL 60637

A message from Ernie Lopez: On the Camino, when you meet a fellow pilgrim, the first question they will ask is- "Why are you undertaking this task?"

My answer during my first pilgrimage was- "It is time to hit a reset button for my life."

My first Camino was walking across Spain in 2018 starting at the small town of Jean Pied de Port at the base of the Pyrenees mountains, my second was in 2022. The first  walk took me 28 days to traverse 500 miles across the Spanish countryside. On DATE 2024,  I plan on restarting my third Camino de Santiago. I attempted the route in 2020, but that year Covid had other plans for me.

My 2024 pilgrimage will start in Sevilla in the South of Spain and go North towards Santiago. I have allocated 35 days to finish this route.

I have been asking myself why I will take this pilgrimage on again and I cannot help, but reflect on my first journey.

Here is a note from a young man I encountered on my first Camino expressing his thanks:
“I am praying for you in your journey. You are getting closer to being a stone's throw away from where you and I met on the trail. Meeting you, and you being generous enough to offer to buy me a drink in a cafe, helped shift the trajectory in my life. ”

So this time, I do this Camino in the hope of shifting my own life trajectory and of others that I have not met yet. I have contemplated how to best impact other's. During this journey, I am raising funds to assist a college bound student, like I once was. To provide emotional support or see me prepare for the trip follow me on Instagram: @lopezohio

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