Sterling man goes the extra mile to support local food banks

Published 5:30 pm Thursday, July 2, 2026

A 70-year-old Fred Meyer cashier in Sterling has completed a 1,000-mile trek — often in subzero temperatures along the Sterling Highway — to fight hunger in his community and across America.

Jonathan “Uncle Jonny” Reidy reached his 1,000-mile goal on June 20, the eve of the summer solstice, alongside three supporters from the local community.

Reidy had decided to walk to work back on Oct. 27 after his van broke down and a coworker who had been providing rides called out sick. As he strode those first 11 miles, he came up with an idea.

“I thought, ‘Heck, I am going to turn a significant adversity into something positive,’” he recalled. “I am going to walk to work at least three times a week, set a goal of 1,000 miles, and ask people to make a per-mile pledge to make a financial donation to a local food bank or feeding program of their choice.”

Over the past eight months, Reidy’s walking has been recognized by local motorists, with many honking and waving in support. He is easily spotted, not only because there are so few people walking on the rural stretch of highway, but because he dyed his full white beard pink in February in support of a coworker who has breast cancer and underwent a dual mastectomy.

“I am maintaining the pink color until they are determined to be cancer-free,” he said.

Throughout the winter, Reidy often walked in freezing temperatures and windy conditions — as cold as -24. In addition to the cold, Sterling and Soldotna communities received upwards of 40 inches of snow accumulation, covering the pedestrian path along the highway and forcing Reidy to walk along the icy shoulder — often dodging snowplows as they drove by.

On Feb. 10, at approximately 6:30 a.m., Reidy looked out his window and could barely see 50 feet beyond his cabin, as heavy snow was falling. In a week where Reidy was frantically trying to ensure he met his halfway mark of 500 miles by Valentine’s Day, he was desperately looking for answers.

“I lay back down and groaned, looked upward and cried out, ‘Dear universal spirits, please send me a signal that I need to get my sore tied hips and feet out of bed and start walking,’” he said. “In an instant, my phone binged, and there was a text from a cab driver who had given me a ride home a few weeks before.”

The cab driver had told a passenger the previous evening about Reidy’s story, and despite his own personal difficulties, the passenger was so moved by Reidy’s efforts that he handed the driver $100 and asked that he deliver it to a food bank. The driver showed the $100 donation receipt for the Kenai Peninsula Food Bank to Reidy.

Reidy promptly got back out of bed, got dressed, and started the 11-mile walk to work in the blinding snow.

Three months later, Reidy was struggling with the last 100 miles, as his arthritis was causing intense foot pain. Once again, he looked to the heavens and prayed for strength to continues.

“A few minutes later, a black pickup truck pulled over to the side of the road, and the driver rolled down his window and asked me if I was the guy who is walking to raise money for the food bank,” he recalled.

“The driver reached his hand through the truck’s open window with crumbled bills, handing me $25 in cash.”

As the driver drove away, Reidy realized that the pain in his feet no longer felt that bad, knowing that not only were there people supporting him, but there was also a “higher power” guiding and pushing him to complete his mission.

In mid-April, Reidy suffered a minor respiratory infection and developed acute pneumonia.

After three week of medication and rest, he was back to walking at least 33 miles every week.

As a retired social worker who, in addition to social security, has to work nearly 40 hours a week to make ends meet and have a little left over to enjoy life, Reidy understands the pain of those in similar situations, and knew he had to do something about it.

“Every day I encounter people at the grocery register who have to take items off the counter because they simply don’t have enough money to pay for necessary food, despite receiving help from the Food Stamp program called SNAP,” he said.

“It is heartbreaking to me to see a mother try and explain to her young child why she has to put the oatmeal or mac and cheese back, or a senior citizen who asks me to take back the hamburger because they just came from the pharmacy and had to instead pay for health-sustaining medicine.”

Reidy added that his motivation for supporting local food banks through his walking was not only from his experiences at work, but also stemmed from a lifelong conviction that hunger in a world of abundance is “flat-out wrong.”

“As a five-year-old child, I was struck by the desperation and depression portrayed by Van Gogh in the painting entitled ‘The Potato Eaters,’ Reidy recalled.

“Seeing the painting during a Van Gogh exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art in which my parents had taken my brothers and me to see, I asked my mother why the people in the painting were so sad.”

Reidy’s mother spoke with him about the relation between hunger, poverty, and greed, and that lesson was a motivating factor in him spending 32 years as a professional social worker.

As of June 28, Reidy has been notified by donors that at least $3,957 had been contributed to hunger relief programs in support of his 1,000-mile walk. He is considering undertaking Uncle Jonny’s Second Annual 1,000-Mile Walk to Feed the Hungry on Sept. 5 to coincide with National Hunger Action Month.

To support Reidy’s cause, donations can be made directly to the not-for-profit hunger relief program of the donor’s choice or to Feeding America, the national not-for-profit organization that supports and coordinated to a nationwide network of over 200 food banks and 60,000 local agency partners, food pantries, and meal programs.