Bangor Area Homeless Shelter Readies For 29th ‘Hike For The Homeless’ This April

This year will mark almost 30 years since folks across Maine started putting their feet to the pavement (or trail) to raise money to help Bangor's homeless population.

Boyd A. Kronholm, Executive Director of the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter, says their yearly "Hike For The Homeless" event has evolved quite a bit since it first started 29 years ago when it was just the news team from a local television hiking up a Katahdin.

"It evolved into 4 local starting points (Bangor, Brewer, Hampden, and Hermon) converging at the waterfront. We moved it to a virtual hike for a few years during the pandemic.  We now begin and end at the waterfront."

What started with a handful of people now attracts hundreds, Kronholm says some events have had participants numbering upwards of 700.

They took a 4-year hiatus of doing live hikes because of Covid. Last year marked their first year back in person.

He says the Hike for the Homeless event has now become the Shelter's biggest fundraiser of the year.

"This year we are hoping to raise $30,000 between sponsorships and registrations. Last year we raised over $28,000 and that was our first year back hiking live."

The event takes place rain or shine, as folks who braved the sleet and freezing rain of last year's event can tell you.

This year's event is scheduled to take place on Saturday, April 6th. They are looking for both participants to gather pledges and take part in the Hike, and also sponsors.

If you're interested in joining the cause as a hiker or a team, click here. If you'd like to become a backing business, you can click here for more information.