A lot of people are worried about the effects of state budget cuts, but Matt Jenkins of Boone is taking his message to the streets--barefoot.

Jenkins is making a fund-raising run for the Watauga Youth Network in August, making three different long-distance runs to the various schools in Watauga County. For the first leg of the run, Jenkins is ditching his shoes.

Matt Jenkins is going to run 108 miles to raise money for the Western Youth Network, and 20 miles of it will be barefoot. Photo by Scott Nicholson

Jenkins drew inspiration after hearing about other long-distance running efforts.

A runner named Sam Thompson did 51 marathons in 50 days in 50 states, and ran from every library in Seattle, Wash., to raise awareness for a new material check-out system. Jenkins said while he didn’t expect his events to raise national awareness, it was something he could do close to home.

“I thought about the impacts of these cuts and each of the kids I had worked with and the difference it had made,” Jenkins said. “I thought about what I could do to help, and I thought, ‘Well, I can run.’”

Jenkins performed a Mapquest online search to gauge distances from each school and decided, “Yeah, I can do that.”

Jenkins works in the afterschool program with Project Venture, which provides outdoor adventure to encourage positive behavior in youths. He typically works with middle-school kids through the Watauga Youth Network, a position he’s had for about a year.

Jenkins started running in the Marine Corps, and kept it up after he moved to Boone. “With the Marine Corps mentality of being tougher, bigger, and badder, I decided to do a marathon and just got hooked,” he said. “I started doing 50-milers, and then I saw this guy running barefoot one day, and I thought, ‘Man this is it, it’s the hardcore.’ I did that and got my feet all bloodied up, and I run in socks now. It’s a nice little hobby to have. It keeps me sane and it keeps me in shape.”

He will be making the runs on Aug. 16, 23 and 30, doing a 20-mile barefoot run for the first event. “I’ll be barefoot, but if people want to join me, they can wear shoes if they want,” he said. The first run will go to the afterschool sites of Boone Methodist Church and Cove Creek Community Center.

On Aug. 23 is a 35-mile run, stopping at schools in the eastern portion of the county, including Two Rivers Community School, Hardin Park and Blowing Rock.

On Aug. 30 is a 53-mile run, hitting every school on the western end of the county, including Mabel, Bethel, Cove Creek and Valle Crucis. Green Valley was skipped because of the unsafe route. Each run starts and ends at the WYN office near Junaluska Road in Boone.

“These routes are not closed off to the traffic and some parts don’t have a wide shoulder for access. I wouldn’t call this is a fun run,” Jenkins said. “It’s kind of intense.”

If people want to run and donate, there are short runs of a couple of miles, and donors can also provide donations for all 108 miles. There’s a blog and Paypal link at wataugayouthrun.blogspot.com, with suggested amounts for donors. Jenkins’s wife will be running in two of the events.

“It’s really laid back,’”Jenkins said. “If people don’t want to run and don’t want to donate, that’s cool. We really just want to draw attention that we’re the only providers for afterschool care in this county to this age group, at this crucial period in kids’ lives. This not only impacts them, but the whole community.

“Two of our biggest grants were cut, a total of $144,000. It was a statewide budget decision,” he said. The proposed cuts haven’t been finalized and no decisions for next year’s programs have yet been determined.

The funds raised through the running will go directly into the afterschool program, with no money going toward the event organization. The runs will be “commando style,” with the runners’ gear and supplies dropped off at each of the school sites on the day of the run.

“I still don’t know how this will work out, but one thing we try to teach the kids is to give everything you’ve got,” Jenkins said. “It doesn’t matter if you fall on your face. Why not lead by example?”

For more information, call Jenkins at (864) 320-4870 or jenkinsm@westernyouthnetwork.org.