Man takes 250-mile walk to aid others

Central Florida man walking across state for charity in Brazil

While many Floridians hunker down in the air conditioning to escape the summer heat, Riley Nutt is on a mission to walk from the Sunshine State’s Atlantic Coast to Gulf Coast.

His 250-mile trek aims to raise money for the São Paulo Mercy Ministry in Brazil, an organization supporting homeless children in the city. So far, the 51-year-old has raised more than $4,000 toward his current goal of $20,000 through shirt sales, a GoFundMe and more.

While the distance might seem daunting, the Volusia County resident has walked almost twice that during his first “camino,” or pilgrimage, in Europe that was inspired by a PBS show with travel guru Rick Steves.

“He says, ‘Now we’re going to talk about what a camino is.’ It was just amazing,” Nutt said. “I can either walk and worry about ticks and snakes and bears and mountain lions and lightning strikes. Or I could walk across one of the most beautiful areas of Europe and Spain. I could eat my way across Spain. It was a no brainer.”

Nutt journeyed the Camino de Santiago for 40 days and about 500 miles from the Pyrenees Mountains of France to the shrine of Saint James in Spain before walking to Portugal as well.

“I walked that to raise money for Father Stephen and Mary in 2017 and we raised a little over $4,000. And they didn’t even know I was doing it,” said Nutt, referring to the missionaries of São Paulo Mercy Ministry. “This money that I’m raising now is to help Stephen and Mary set up group homes for about four kids at a time: $50 will rent an apartment for a month, $20 will feed them.”

This summer, Nutt had planned to fly into Porto, Portugal, and walk 250 miles along the