WINNEMUCCA - A Montana man, who gave up months of his life to walk 1,460 miles in an effort to combat homelessness and hunger, is still working to raise money and awareness for the causes.
Stephen Millhouse, 53, arrived at the Hippie Kitchen, a soup kitchen in Los Angeles, at around 1 p.m. on Jan. 2, drawing his nearly four-month journey to an end. He was greeted by a small group of supporters, Hippie Kitchen volunteers and a local TV news station.
Millhouse, who was formerly homeless, passed through Battle Mountain on Sept. 25 - 27, Winnemucca Sept. 29 - 30 and Lovelock Oct. 3 - 5 as he traveled down the Interstate 80 corridor.
Millhouse said he had driven through Nevada but had never spent much time in the state. He said he was fascinated by small mining communities.
He left his home in Missoula, Mont., on Aug. 3, 2011, and travelled with his trusted pack that he named Rocinante after Don Quixote's "noble steed" during what he called "My One Man March." He raised a total of around $3,000 which he will donate to organizations in the four states through which he walked - Nevada, Montana, Idaho and California.
People were able to track Millhouse's journey on the My One Man March website at www.myonemanmarch.org. Donations are still being accepted and can be made through the website until August 2012.
Millhouse began his walk in Missoula from the Poverello Center, a homeless shelter, in order to bring attention to the issue of homelessness. Millhouse said he wanted to "pay it forward," because so many people and the Veterans Administration helped him out when he was homeless.
"I would love for more people to get involved and give where they live," said Millhouse, who encouraged everyone to volunteer their time to fight homelessness and hunger. "I think the time that you give is more valuable than anything else."
He was also walking in memory of his 22-year-old niece who was killed in Missoula in February 2011 by a drunk driver.
This walk was the first time Millhouse had undertaken a project like this, he said. He wanted to raise awareness of homelessness and hunger because he has been homeless and he used to volunteer at a soup kitchen in Los Angeles, and because more and more families are being affected.
He said raising awareness is important in order to try and break down the bias barrier that not all homeless people are alcoholics or drug addicts. He wants people to realize that homeless people are not a lost cause.
By breaking down the bias barrier, Millhouse said he wants to get people out of homelessness and back to being contributing members of their communities. He wants to raise hunger awareness to ensure that all children are fed properly at a minimum, he said.
When he arrived in LA, Millhouse began volunteering five days a week and serving meals to hundreds of homeless people at the Hippie Kitchen. He was living in the Hennacy House, a community living house that is run by the Los Angeles Catholic Worker.
Founded in 1970, the Los Angeles Catholic Worker is a lay Catholic community of men and women which operates a free soup kitchen, hospitality house for the homeless, hospice for the dying, a newspaper and regularly offers prophetic witness in opposition to war-making and injustice, according to its website at lacatholicworker.org.
On Feb. 2, Millhouse returned to Missoula for three weeks to visit family and to meet with his foundation board to determine the group's next project and what charities the approximately $3,000 he raised will go toward. Millhouse is the founder of the Going the Distance Foundation.
The organization is run by a board of directors and he serves on the board. His walk was the first foundation project. The goal of the foundation is to focus on social justice issues, he said.
Millhouse is hoping to prepare photos, video footage and a Power Point presentation to show at schools, churches and service organizations showcasing his journey and continuing to raise awareness of homelessness and hunger. He also plans to do public speaking.
One idea he has been tossing around in his head for the next foundation project is a touring fundraiser where a small group of people would travel around presenting a musical play on what it is like to be homeless.
After three weeks in Missoula, Millhouse plans to return to LA to continue living in the Hennacy House and volunteering at the soup kitchen. He will also begin his public outreach.
He does not plan to do another walk. During his journey, he suffered a stress fracture to his left foot outside of Twin Falls, Idaho. He continued walking and when he got to Reno, he found it was a full fracture. He went to the VA hospital in Martinez, Calif., and a doctor there donated a walking boot to him so he could complete his journey. He is still wearing the boot and now walks with a cane.
Millhouse walked an average of 16 miles a day, six days a week. Between cities, he camped out along the roadway exits. He traveled by himself and sponsored the trip with his own money. Various sponsors paid for his gear, he said.
The walk had positive and negative impacts to his health. He lost a lot of weight and suffered from blisters which he eventually learned to combat and prevent.
The biggest challenge of his journey was the monotony of walking day in and day out and finding safe places to camp. He said some days he felt worn out.
On his walk he said he met so many kind and generous people and heard many life stories.
"The charity and generosity of people is amazing," he said.
Millhouse said he feels like his journey accomplished his goal of raising awareness of homelessness and hunger but he wishes he had had more time to spend in each community getting to know the people and different communities' needs. He feels like he encouraged people to get involved and volunteer for their local service organizations, including soup kitchens and food banks.
"I think I inspired a number of people," he said.
He said he heard from several people who said that they were motivated to volunteer after hearing about his journey.
Millhouse said he started his journey with a lot of angst and anger toward the world. He was upset over the loss of his niece and said he felt like people were not doing enough to help those in need.
"I was not happy with how humanity was dealing with the homeless," he said. "I got to see it firsthand and it was terrible. I came away from it with a lot of hope. I came away from it knowing there are a lot of good people out there working to do things for the homeless. I hope it continues, that not only will they get involved but that they will stay involved."
He added, "There will always be the homeless and the hungry and I think we can do a much better job by just getting involved."
Millhouse said the best part of his journey was being helped by all of the "road angels." He described the road angels as people who would just stop by the side of the road to see if he was OK and to offer help.
"It was just strange," he said. "They would just appear when I needed them the most and I was extremely thankful."
The worst part of his journey was his foot pain from the fracture and getting lost in various communities.
A volunteer trainer in Missoula helped Millhouse prepare for his journey. She taught him proper stretching techniques, good nutrition and how to walk for endurance. He participated in the Missoula Marathon in July 2011 in which he walked 13 miles. He walked almost every day during a three-month period, increasing the amount of miles each week, he said.
From 1999 to 2001, Millhouse was an aspiring actor in Los Angeles. He was homeless from 2001 to 2008 because an unresolved California workplace injury left him unable to work for seven years. A veteran, he served in the Marines from 1976 to 1980.
Prior to starting his walk, he worked in the facilities department for the Missoula Children's Theatre. He worked there from 1996 to 1999 and again from 2008 to 2011.
Millhouse earned his bachelor's degree in psychology from the University of Montana where he graduated in 1985. He earned his master's degree in clinical psychology from Bradley University.
His hobbies include fishing, hiking and building things out of found objects.
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