About a dozen employees of Haskell Indian Nations University’s facilities department have gathered in front of Winnemuca Hall. They perform a few last-minute stretches to prepare for the two-mile walk that lies ahead.

The path they traverse is well-worn. That’s because they and more than 50 university employees and students have been meeting since last June to walk the perimeter of the East Lawrence campus in an effort to improve their fitness.

Members of the

The walkers, most of whom hit the trail come rain or shine, call themselves “The Walking Brave.”

Their persistence and success many have seen a drop in weight, blood pressure and cholesterol, and some have been able to come off medication is part of the reason organizers of this year’s American Heart Assn.’s Heart Walk have decided to have the annual fund-raising event at Haskell.

“We felt like that was a real inspirational story,” said Doug Brown, chairman of the 2002 walk, which will take place April 20. Brown recently lost his father to a heart attack, and his mother has survived open-heart surgery.

Walk participants collect pledges and then choose a one-, two- or five-mile course. All proceeds go to the American Heart Assn.

Lawrence organizers this year hope to double the $25,000 raised in last year’s walk, Brown said.

A different kind of killer

That could be a challenge, Brown said, given the difficulty charities have faced since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“While everybody understands that was a horrible, horrible thing to happen, over 950,000 Americans die every year from heart disease,” he said. “Every single day in America, almost as many people die from heart disease as died in the 9-11 attacks. This is a different kind of killer, and we want to figure out how to stop it.”

In 2000-2001, the heart association funded 96 cardiovascular research projects worth $4 million in Kansas and Missouri. Money raised in Kansas benefits research efforts at Kansas University, Kansas University School of Medicine and Kansas State University.

The Haskell walking group is making every effort to help meet this year’s $50,000 goal. In addition to gathering pledges, facilities employee Mary Jackson and other group members have had food sales on campus to raise money for the walk.

Haskell exposure

Lee Pahcoddy, member of the heart walk’s executive committee and maintenance supervisor at Haskell, has walked nearly 200 miles since last June and said his blood pressure and cholesterol both have dropped. He’s excited about the walk’s potential to generate exposure for Haskell.

“We’d like to invite people to see our campus,” he said. “A lot of people have never been out here.”

But members of the walking group get a good look at it every day when they go out for their morning or afternoon stroll. Combined, group members have logged more than 6,300 miles since they started walking last June.

They say university president Karen Swisher has given them added motivation to walk. She allows employees a half hour out of each work day to exercise.

At the end of Wednesday’s walk, the dozen employees who have completed the jaunt pencil in a “2” next to their names on a bulletin board in the facilities office.

“We just wanted to do this as kind of a health thing,” Pahcoddy said. “Some days, it’s good stress relief.”