'Old Man' rests after raising $240,000
Richard Atkinson walks with his wife, Carol, and a crowd of supporters Friday through downtown Whitefish on his final day of his Old Man Walking campaign to raise money for the Whitefish Performing Arts Center.
With fire-truck sirens blaring, a knighting from the Whitefish Winter Carnival king and a street full of followers marching in an impromptu parade, Richard Atkinson could not have scripted a better ending to his “Old Man Walking” campaign.
One of Whitefish’s premier fundraisers, Atkinson took to the streets on Sept. 29, 2009, vowing to walk six kilometers (almost four miles) for 151 consecutive days — until his 70th birthday on Friday — to help raise the last $700,000 for the Whitefish Performing Arts Center.
By the time his birthday bash ended on Friday night, he had collected nearly $240,000.
“In my life there have been very few humbling situations. Today was one of them,” Atkinson told a crowd gathered to celebrate his successful campaign and his birthday. “Today was a really special day I didn’t know was coming.”
Atkinson had hoped to simply amble down the middle of Central Avenue for his final stroll, but when he arrived the streets had been blocked off and numerous fire engines were in place to sound the horns. The Winter Carnival royal court was in place to conduct a special knighting ceremony for him, dubbing Atkinson the “Seasoned Sire of Striding.”
Whitefish Middle School students presented him with a check for $500 and people literally jammed checks into his pockets on the home stretch.
“It’s been a good week,” he said understatedly.
Atkinson became a fixture around Whitefish during his morning walks, sporting
a bright green T-shirt that declared “Old Man Walking.”
The campaign was one of determination and outright stubbornness, he admitted, adding that it was his Irish luck that got him through.
“I took over 1,100,000 steps during the 151 days, slipped countless times, yet never pulled, tore or broke any part of my body,” he said. ”That’s Irish luck at its best.”
His Herculean effort equalled a distance from Whitefish to Williston, N.D.
Donations came in all sizes, and Atkinson treated every one of the gifts as special. When a contribution from a waitress at Whitefish Lake Restaurant pushed the campaign past the $100,000 mark, Atkinson called her to tell her how important her contribution was.
Atkinson’s wife, Carol, said her husband “set a goal that was totally ridiculous,” but in the end she was beaming at the results.
“I’m so very proud of him for what he’s done,” she said.
The Atkinsons and other lead fundraisers in Whitefish have been raising money for the auditorium for five years.
Fund efforts were on track with just $300,000 left to raise when the recession took a $700,000 bite out of pledges for the new facility at Whitefish Middle School. That spurred the team — the Atkinsons, John Kramer, Robert Chambers and David Pickeral — into a full-court press to finish the job.
There was a certain urgency to get the money raised. The Atkinsons have a $1.2 million lien on their home and Kramer has a $1.2 million lien on his business as loan collateral for the project.
The performance hall, considered to be one of the finest in the Northwest, opened in October 2007 to valleywide accolades. The $4.7 million project involved gutting the 1938 Central School auditorium and creating a 16,000-square-foot facility with seating for 490.
There’s still $275,000 left to raise, and now the fundraising will move into a mode that includes raffle tickets, donor parties, grant applications and personal letters to prospects. They hope to complete the fundraising by this summer.
Donations, made payable to Whitefish Middle School Auditorium Project, and pledges can be sent by mail to P.O. Box 4225, Whitefish, MT 59937-4224. Other donation options are available at www.whitefishpac.org.
Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com