Tuesday, May 6, 2003

The Daily Item 
Sunbury, Pennsylvania

She's wearing out sneakers for a cause
By Marcia Moore

POLLY LETOFSKY has worn out 23 pairs of sneakers during a 22-country, 11,000 mile trek that brought her to the Central Susquehanna Valley this week.

On Monday afternoon, the slight 41-year-old enjoyed some warm tea at Bob Evans restaurant after walking 11 waterlogged miles along Route 147 from Herndon to Shamokin Dam.

"I Travel from town to town," said Letofsky, who began an ambitious walk around the world in August 1999 in an effort to raise awareness and money for breast cancer research.

This morning, Letofsky is scheduled to walk along Route 15 into Lewisburg, where she will spend an evening before heading north toward the Finger Lakes region of New York.

The idea for the journey began years ago when Letofsky was a young girl growing up in Minnesota.

"At the age of 12 I was intrigued about seeing the world," she said.

Years later, Letofsky decided to act on her childhood dream while helping out millions of women suffering from breast cancer.

"I knew a lot of people suffering from breast cancer," she said.  "Friends, family, co-workers."

That's how she came up with the plan to embark on a 15,000 mile GlobalWalk for Breast Cancer.  All the money donated in the United States is provided to The Breast Cancer Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to research education and advocacy.

Letofsky walk, scheduled to end in August 2004 in Vail, Colorado, where it began five years earlier, is sponsored by several companies and organizations, including Lions Club International, which has provided shelter, and New Balance of Australia, which has donated new shoes every two months.

Letofsky recently returned to the United states after spending the past 3 1/2 years abroad.

"I've miss a lot; the (2002 presidential) election debacle, Sept. 11, anthrax," she said.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Letofsky was traveling through Malaysia when she learned via the Internet about the terrorist attacks.

For her safety afterward, a tour company in Thailand provided Letofsky a van and driver to accompany her during the four months she spent in that country.

Despite traveling through Asia and the Middle East during a turbulent period, Letofsky said her travels were interrupted only slightlly one year ago.

"The tensions were too much so I had to skip Pakistan and Iran," she said, noting that she'd planned to walk down the same road where Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped last year.  Pearl was later murdered by his Pakistani kidnappers.

After traveling the world by foot and pushing a three-wheel buggy packed with 40 pounds of gear, Letofsky said she would like to return some day to Turkey, where she found the people warm and the country surprisingly modern.

Otherwise, she has little interest in sight-seeing.  

"You can only see so many churches, synagogues, castles and waterfalls," Letofsky said.

Still, she admits to looking forward to enjoying some Americana over the next several months.

"I have to see the Hershey Chocolate factory and the world's largest ball of twine," said said.

"This is my fun--rediscovering America."

When she completes her mission, Letofsky intends to write a book about her experience.

She has already begun a journal, portions of which she has posted on a Web site, which also contains information on how to donate money for breast cancer research, at GlobalWalk.org.

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