HANCOCK COUNTY — A Greenfield man who once relied on the Hancock County Food Pantry to feed his young kids is planning to run across the state next month to raise awareness for the nonprofit that was there in his time of need.
Starting Oct. 8, Joe Kern plans to run 165 miles along U.S. 40 — from Terre Haute to Richmond — in just 48 hours.
His quest will include 12 hours of running followed by one-hour breaks, as his girlfriend and father meet up with him at various stops by car.
Kern, 41, a commercial contractor, was going through a divorce around the same time he lost his job in 2010, as the U.S. economy was in the throes of the Great Recession.
After taking another job that paid just a third of his previous income, Kern was forced to swallow his pride and visit the pantry to obtain enough food to feed himself and his two kids — who were 5 and 6 at the time.
Kern said he’ll never forget the kindness shown by people at the pantry when he was down on his luck, so he’s driven to give back through his run as a show of gratitude.
His route along U.S. 40 will run through multiple small towns, which will give Kern plenty of opportunity to interact with people and raise awareness for food pantries and the integral role they play for families like his.
He hopes to raise at least $3,000 through online donations, but more importantly, raise awareness about food pantries and the importance of donating money, food or time to keep them afloat.
“Quite a few people I talk to do not even know about the (Hancock County) pantry or its needs,” Kern said.
He was inspired to do his upcoming run by his father, Robert Kern, who did a six-day charity walk across the state in 2007, the year he turned 70.
“It was really inspired by that. It always stuck with me,” said Kern, who took up running in 2010 as a way to relieve stress around the time he lost his job and got divorced within a three-month span.
“I’d never been a runner, but I wanted to do a half marathon. It was on my bucket list,” he said.
About five years ago, he ran his first 26.2-mile marathon, then another. He then ran a 50-mile ultra marathon. He’s since done another 50-mile marathon, plus a 100-mile marathon last October.
“It thought, ‘I’m just going to do it one time,’ but once you start running you get addicted,” said Kern.
He then hatched the idea to run across the state of Indiana like his dad did, when he ran the stretch of Indiana along U.S. 40 to raise money for the Church of God orphanage in Tennessee.
“I wanted to do something similar. My dad turns 85 this year, so I figured this was the year to do it,” said Kern, who is happy to have his dad on his support crew for his upcoming run.
The crew will supply Kern with enough carbohydrate-dense food to provide about 500 calories per hour, and enough socks and shoes to switch out over the course of the trip.
Kern is looking forward to his 165-mile run across the state, which will take place over a 48-hour period spanning three days.
Thirty consecutive hours is the most he’s run so far.
He’ll start out in Terre Haute at 7 a.m. on a Friday, heading east on U.S. 40, and plans to finish around 7 a.m. Sunday.
Exactly how long it takes will depend on the number of people he stops to talk to along the way, and the number of runners who decide to join him for part of the journey. Talking with people and spreading awareness about the Hancock County Food Pantry, and other pantries like it, is the whole point of the run, he said.
While Kern and his kids — who are now 16 and 17 — no longer rely on the food pantry, he said he’ll never forget those two months when the pantry got them through hard times.
Kern knows some people feel too proud to go to a food pantry for support, but said there’s no shame in getting help when needed.
“A lot of guys are too proud and don’t want to take a handout, but at certain times you have to swallow your pride and do what you have to do to feed your kids. You walk in there and no one’s judging. No one’s critiquing you. They just need to know that you need help,” he said.
Kern plans to share his story with the people he meets throughout his run. He’ll also be encouraging online donations to the Hancock County Food Pantry, either through his GoFundMe account or his website, runacrossindiana.com.
In the end, he hopes the heightened awareness for food pantries will encourage people to continue supporting them in the future, by donating or becoming volunteers.
While donating food to pantries is always welcome, Kern said monetary donations can go even further thanks to the bulk buying power and connections pantries have.
“The Hancock County Food Pantry says on its website that for every $1 donated, they can buy $7 to $9 of food. They can stretch it really far,” he said.
Kern encourages the public to come out and cheer him on along his run next month, and to check his Facebook page for ongoing updates.
He’ll be running through Greenfield during the Riley Festival, around noon on Saturday, Oct. 9. He’s encouraging other runners and children to meet up with him at the Pennsy Trail trailhead, on South County Road 150W, to join him on his trek through town.
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Next month, Joe Kern of Greenfield will run the 165 miles from Terre Haute to Richmond to raise awareness and support for the Hancock County Food Pantry.
Kern is doing the run to give back to the pantry which provided him and his two kids with food for two months when he lost his job in 2010.
The experienced runner is inviting clothes to join him along the way, especially when he runs through Greenfield during the Riley Festival, around noon on Saturday, Oct. 9.
Runners and families are invited to meet up with him at the Pennsy Trail trailhead on South County Road 150W in Greenfield, to join him on his trek through town.
To learn more about Kern’s quest, visit runacrossindiana.com.
To donate, visit his GoFundMe page at gofund.me/08d0c764.
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