An ‘inspiring’ journey

Hope Harbor director completes 100-mile walk from Sioux Falls to Marshall

MARSHALL -- They had just walked more than 100 miles in four days. But on Sunday afternoon, Chad Doyle and Siscko Garcia said they were feeling good.

"Me personally, I feel inspired, just because there were so many people along the way cheering us on, the welcome reception that we had when we got into town," said Doyle, executive director of Hope Harbor. "Physically, obviously my body's a little sore. I've got some blisters that need to heal, and my joints and legs and all those things. But overall I feel really good."

"I feel empowered by God, honestly. It was hard physically on my feet, but spiritually, mentally, I feel amazing," Garcia said.

Doyle and Garcia arrived at Hope Harbor on Sunday after walking a little over 100 miles from Sioux Falls to Marshall. The "100 Miles for Hope" journey was one that Doyle hoped would raise awareness and funds for Hope Harbor, a nonprofit operating as a Christian ministry serving teens and their families.

Doyle and Garcia started walking on Thursday, and reached the outskirts of Marshall on Sunday morning. Family and local community members met them to finish the last leg of the trip. The line of people came up Fourth Street and onto North High Street, where Hope Harbor staff had set up a finish line with streamers and music like "Chariots of Fire" and the "Rocky" theme playing. A couple of North High Street residents also came outside to greet the walkers.

"We couldn't have done this without God," Doyle said of the journey.

There were points when he wondered if he could physically complete the walk.

"Friday was the hardest day for me," he said. "We'd already walked almost 36 miles. When we started that morning, the weather was crazy. The wind was probably blowing 40 miles an hour, rain, and we were walking straight into it."

"My poncho ripped. And so I was soaked, and I thought I was gonna get sick," Garcia said. "But I think that's when God comes into play, too."

The weather eventually calmed down, he said.

It was support from people along the way that also helped them keep going. Doyle said a neighbor along the walk route was able to provide bandages for the two men's feet, and then a friend from Sioux Falls showed up to walk for more than 13 miles with them. "

He gave us the energy we needed to get that day done," Doyle said.

As Doyle and Garcia got closer to Marshall, they met more supporters on the way.

"We were probably six miles out (from Marshall), and we had about seven people come to meet us. And then when we got about two, two-and-a-half miles from town, we had about probably 25 join us," Doyle said.

The supporters included Garcia's sister and brother.

"Just having them join us the last like, five or six miles was pretty cool, because I kind of forgot about the pain," he said. "We were talking, you know chatting and catching up."

Doyle said the walk had reached its target for Hope Harbor donations, raising $25,001.

"But more than anything, it was for the awareness," he said. "We wanted to just get this community of believers to rally around us and support us."

Claudia Stenson, one of the founders of Hope Harbor in Marshall, said the 100 Miles for Hope walk came to an end on the 23rd anniversary of the nonprofit's founding.

"I'm just overwhelmed by how gracious God has been," Stenson said. "I look back over all the years, and I see the faces of the teens . . . I just see the lives that were not only changed, but saved. I've seen broken girls become healthy moms with children now, and it's truly amazing."

"Only by the grace of God did all of this come into being, and I will be forever grateful for having the opportunity to be around for such a time as this," Stenson said.