Dr. Timir Banerjee, 62, walked across the Second Street Bridge on May 10 with a wooden cane, a backpack and a mission.
His mission: to walk 2,600 miles from Louisville to Portland, Ore., and raise awareness and funds for SPAVA, a nonprofit organization he founded that stands for the Society for the Prevention of Aggressiveness and Violence among Adolescents.
"I want the people in the nation to know what we are doing in Kentucky," he said.
Perched atop Banerjee's backpack that contains drinking water and a rain poncho is a sign that reads, "SPAVA For Kids."
SPAVA "promotes respect, honor and integrity among children," said Banerjee, and, through the organization, mentors visit Louisville-area schools and teach students about conflict resolution, anger management, accountability for actions and about historical figures such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, who achieved goals through non-violent means.
Banerjee pointed out that King and Gandhi used walks to promote their causes. "When you are walking for a purpose, the purpose be-comes magnified," he said.
Banerjee, who had a neurosurgery practice in Louisville for 22 years, plans to walk 25 miles or around seven hours a day for about 110 days.
At that rate, he'll arrive in Portland in late August.
Along the way, he'll carry a reminder of his work as a neurosurgeon. One of his grateful patients made him a wooden cane using the very hand on which he had operated.
"That shows love, and I'm going to carry that love with me," said Banerjee who splits time between his home in The Woods of St. Thomas and his home in Portland, Ore.
Several drivers, some who have volunteered for five days and others who have volunteered for a month, will help Banerjee during his journey. Each day they'll drop him off in the morning where he left off the day before, bring food at lunchtime and pick him up and take him to a motel in the evening.
The only leg Banerjee plans to drive is a 30-mile stretch through East St. Louis because of the high crime rate in that city.
Banerjee was born in India and settled in Louisville in 1967. His medical degree is from Ohio State University.
The idea for SPAVA came to him after the shootings at Heath High School in Paducah in 1997. He founded SPAVA in 1999, and this year, SPAVA mentors, who volunteer and come from all walks of life, have addressed more than 1,000 students in grades kindergarten through 12 in local public, private and parochial schools, said Banerjee.
Mentors visit schools for one hour a week for a five- or 10-week period, and Banerjee said that suspension rates were reduced by 32 percent in several of the schools SPAVA targeted. SPAVA's curriculum includes having students do an act of kindness and meet a new person each day.
"I tell the students that the part of the brain that controls anger also controls love, compassion and emotion," said Banerjee.
SPAVA also gave college scholarships ranging from $200 to $500 to 33 students this year and has awarded more than 120 scholarships overall.
Through his walk, Banerjee hopes to raise $250,000 for SPAVA and for additional scholarships. He added that he would like SPAVA to become a nationwide organization.
Banerjee trained for his journey by running because walking would have been too time consuming. He began training last September and worked his way up to running 100 miles a week, spending long hours in the gym and circling the scenic loop in Cherokee Park countless times.
Although he retired from his neurosurgery practice in 1998, he prefers saying he was "retreaded."
"I got my tires changed and my oil changed, and I'm just driving a different road," he said. "I never did stop my car."
He's excited about his journey and looking forward to meeting new people. And rather than focusing on his destination, he said he's focusing on each day of the journey and won't be keeping track of how many miles he has left.
"I'm not going to worry about what is left," he said. "I'm going to read the book from the front."
For more information on SPAVA, visit spava.us or call 485-8185. The address to make tax-deductible donations directly to SPAVA is P.O. Box 22067, Louisville, KY 40252.
