Hundreds turn out to Homeward Bound Walk, raise more than $40,000

About 500 people participated in the Sixth Annual Homeward Bound Walk to fight homelessness and hunger, held Sunday afternoon at Third Street Park. \n“We couldn’t have ordered better weather; it was just a beautiful day,” walk chair Vickie Provine said. “We had so many teams this year.”\nThe preliminary estimate of the total money raised was more than $40,000, Provine said, but there were a few glitches to fix with the organization’s Web site and donation system. \n“I’m sure it will be much more than $40,000,” Provine said. “We always pull in a lot more money after the walk. This happens every year. We can’t give an exact final yet, but we know it will be more.” \nAmong the festivities were team photos, free food and other types of entertainment, including a women’s percussion group and folk group. \nMayor Mark Kruzan spoke to the walkers before the event and gave words of encouragement. \n“It was a great event,” Provine said. “Thirteen agencies work hard to make this happen. The community and Indiana University and nonprofits and everyone come together to make the event happen. People who help put this on deal with homelessness all the time and this is just one day to highlight the issues.” \nLucy Schaich, walker recruiter for this year’s event, said she saw a lot of IU students involved in the walk. \n“The IU turnout was phenomenal. I was really impressed,” Schaich said. “I thought the walk went really well and the weather really encouraged people on the fence to come out and walk.” \nProvine agreed, saying she appreciates all of IU’s help with the walk. \n“There were lots of red T-shirts, and we knew IU was strongly behind us,” Provine said. \nKathy Mayer will be the chair for next year’s walk. She said she was “very pleased” with the walk’s turnout, but hopes to bring in more of the community and business sector next year. \n“We want to branch out to the whole community to help make it a little more successful,” Mayer said. \nAt the walk, Mayer shadowed Provine to learn all the ins and outs of planning the walk. She helped Provine with any problems that she could and with organizational issues. \n“I’ve got all kinds of ideas and different ways to go about doing things and ways to enhance the walk because it’s a great program,” Mayer said. “Vickie and team have done such a great job and I just want to help build upon that. I’m just very excited for next year’s walk.”