LEWISTON — Forty college students from New Hampshire will be in Lewiston on Saturday, but not for long.

At 8 a.m. at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, the Saint Anselm College students will begin a 130-mile walk from Lewiston to their college in Manchester, New Hampshire, to raise money for charity.

In addition to helping worthy organizations, the eight-day trek, called “The Road for Hope,” helps walkers gain personal insight, and along the way meet and interact with the organizations they’re helping. That makes their efforts more meaningful, said Saint Anselm minister Riley Duggan, who herself made the trek when a Saint Anselm student.

Father Seamus Griesbach, chaplain at Saint Dominic Academy, started the annual Saint Anselm College tradition of walking 130 miles from Lewiston to Manchester, N.H. 20 years ago when he was an incoming freshman. He decided to walk to college “on a lark,” which evolved into an annual “Road for Hope” where students raise money for charities. Students begin their walk at 8 a.m. Saturday from Lewiston’s Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul. (File photo)

The long walk to college was started by the Rev. Seamus Griesbach, who is a priest and chaplain at Saint Dominic Academy.

In 1998 he was an incoming college freshman from Lisbon Falls. He decided “on a lark” to walk 130 miles to Saint Anselm’s.

“I had finished my job, I had a little extra time and thought it would be a neat way to start college.”

He walked with his brother, Leon, and their dog, Bell. “We packed 15 pounds of trail mix and three gallons of dog food. We took a copy of a Maine Atlas. We would knock on doors every evening and ask if we could camp out. We brought a tent.”

When he finally got there, his body sore, blisters on his feet, word spread.

His story was picked up by the Associated Press. Griesbach became a local legend on campus. Other students asked if they could join him on the trek next August.

Griesbach said if the 130-mile walk was to continue, it ought to be for a good cause. The walk from Lewiston to Manchester, N.H. became “The Road for Hope,” an annual pilgrimage Saint Anselm students make in August to raise money for charities. Students collect pledges for their walk. This year the students will begin the walk leaving Lewiston at 8 a.m., said Duggan.

The students have raised $24,000 for the nine charities, and will likely collect more, Duggan said. The nine charities are: Birthline and Catholic Charities in Portland, Community Concepts in Lewiston, Good Shepherd Food Bank in Auburn, the York County Shelter Program in Alfred, St. Charles Children’s Home in Rochester, N.H., the Rochester Recreation Arena and Youth Services, the Candia Moore School Drug Awareness Program in Candia, N.H., Kid’s Cafe in Manchester, N.H. and Upreach Therapeutic Riding Center in Goffstown, N.H.

Griesbach was surprised that other students wanted to walk 130 miles, but that the annual tradition has continued for 20 years.

“It points to a desire for authenticity among young people for a kind of concrete experience,” he said. “It’s a real encounter with your own humanity. When you’ve walked that many miles you get a different sense of distance. You feel the limitations of your body.”

When sharing that experience with others, it becomes a pilgrimage, a walking prayer experience “that involves not just your soul, but your body.”

Students making the walk have a blog. To see it, or for more information, go to: http://blogs.anselm.edu/rfh/.

bwashuk@sunjournal.com