Pair to hike 2,000 miles to help homeless veterans

Pair to hike 2,000 miles to help homeless veterans

By Terry Karkos , Staff Writer
Monday, February 18, 2008

JAY - After a four-year commitment with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division that included a 15-month tour in Iraq, a North Jay man and his Army buddy will head to Georgia next month on another mission.

Only this time, former Sgts. Jarad Greeley, 25, and Marshall Berry, 28, of New Hampshire, will be raising awareness and resources for the nation's homeless veterans by through-hiking more than 2,000 miles of the Appalachian Trail to Maine in four to five months.

"This may seem like a long hike, but put into perspective with the number of homeless veterans that we are trying to help, (it) seems minor," Greeley said Friday afternoon at his home off Route 4 in North Jay.

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, an estimated 195,000 veterans are homeless on any given night, while nearly 400,000 experience homelessness during the course of a year.
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