Some of Evan Woodapps most ambitious ideas come to him when heapps walking.
Thatapps what Wood was doing when he decided to spend his 50th birthday by walking 50,000 steps and attempting to raise $50,000 for five nonprofits that have supported his family during challenging times.
appAt my age, I was thinking more about what Iappm going to do with the second half of my life than what Iappm going to do today,app he said Thursday during a phone interview.
Wood will mark his milestone birthday on Tuesday by walking what he estimates will be almost 200 laps on the indoor track at Turnstone, a nonprofit center that provides services for children and adults with disabilities.
Turnstone is one of the five organizations Wood wants to support by raising donations. The others are Hopeapps Harbor, the Challenged Athletes Foundation, USA Patriots Athletics and USA Volleyball Foundation.
Each of the nonprofits has played a significant role in the Wood familyapps life. Hopeapps Harbor provided emotional and other support when Evan and Lisa Woodapps daughter Reece died because of a heart-related condition shortly before her third birthday about 16 years ago.
The couple are parents to four other children, including 14-year-old Cami, who was born with a rare bone disease called melorheostosis. The active and athletic teen chose to have her lower left leg amputated seven years ago to improve her quality of life.
Evan Wood appreciates the opportunities his chosen organizations have provided to Cami. Not all families have access to the same level of support, he said, recounting his conversations with other parents at various athletic competitions.
For most of his life, Wood has been a spectator at athletic events, not a participant. Before this year, Wood said, he was appextremely out of shapeapp with blood pressure consistently in the 180/120 range.
When his employer, Fort Wayne Metals, changed health care coverage last year, a co-worker encouraged Wood to accept the new providerapps offer of a free scale and blood pressure cuff to better monitor his health. The equipment served as a wake-up call.
The Leo man began regularly walking, a form of exercise he previously considered too low-effort to make much of a difference.
The cumulative difference for Woods has been a 50-pound weight loss and blood pressure now at 118/78. Even so, Woodapps plan to walk 50,000 steps is ambitious.
appIappve never done 50,000 steps at once,app he said. appThirty-eight thousand is my record.app
But Wood is confident he can do it.
His wife was skeptical when Wood first shared his plan.
appShe tends to think I have a lot of big ideas anyway,app he said. appAnd I donappt necessarily follow through with them.app
What began as a whim became real after he began talking about it publicly, including to fellow members of Greater Fort Wayne Inc.
appOnce I told them, then I had to do it,app he said.
Wood, who is vice president of people and strategy for Fort Wayne Metals, has invited some of those peers to share his journey, an estimated 24 miles, which he plans to begin at 7 a.m. Tuesday.
Mark Daniel, superintendent of Fort Wayne Community Schools, has agreed to join Wood at 8 a.m. for a portion of the walk that will be livestreamed as the men talk about education-related issues.
Jason Meyer, chief government relations and strategic initiatives officer at Easterseals Arc of Northeast Indiana, will join Wood for a walk and a talk about autism.
Wood chose conversation topics he thinks his LinkedIn followers would find interesting.
Also accompanying him will be three pairs of shoes and supplies of protein drinks and bars.
As of Thursday, Wood had raised about $22,000 in donations and pledges toward his $50,000 goal.
appIappm nervous about hitting that number. I donappt know, but Iappm hopeful,app he said. appIappm not a fundraiser. This is out of my comfort zone.app
Wood hopes he inspires others to celebrate their milestone events by finding creative ways to support a community organization important to them.
appThe ice bucket challenge that supported ALS research ended up going viral after one person started it,app he said.
