Rissa Reel has spent time living in Delphos and St. Mary’s.
She’s decided to “Walk for the Voiceless” this summer. Her goal was to start June 22nd, 2021, and she made it an impressive 800 miles from Flint, MI to Kansas City in 54 days! This summer she intends to finish her Kansas City to Los Angeles raising awareness for various issues, such as sexual crimes, mental health, child abuse and neglect.
I can’t walk that far!
Jun 2, 2023
Rissa Reel is preparing to walk from Cincinnati to Cleveland to raise funds for
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Shelby and Darke Counties. Rissa, who has also done
several walks before for mental health awareness, talks about this upcoming walk.
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On June 5 Rissa Reel, originally from St. Mary’s but now residing in Michigan, began
her walk across Ohio from Cincinnati to Cleveland to raise awareness for Big Brothers
Big Sisters of Shelby and Darke County.
Reel has done two other walks to help end the stigma and bring awareness to mental health issues. Her first walk was 800 miles from Michigan to Kansas and her second
was for the DMAN Foundation based in Detroit that helps individuals with physical
and mental disabilities. She chose to support the DMAN Foundation on her second
walk because her brother has cerebral palsy.
“I think the biggest thing to do is to share my story, show other people that they’re not alone in some of the hardships they may have faced,” said Reel. “You can keep going, you can go anywhere you set your mind to. That’s my big motto, you just have to keep going, keep taking a step, they all add up.”
For her third walk, about 275 miles from Cincinnati to Cleveland, Reel has been working to raise awareness and donations for Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of Shelby and Darke County before her walk has even begun. Her website https://takingastep.com/ contains more information about her walk and her personal experience with BBBS. When she was growing up in Sidney and St. Marys BBBS provided her with mentor-ship and support during some of the more difficult times in her childhood and now she wants to give back to the organization that supported her.
“Big Brothers Big Sisters is pretty important to me, because they helped me when I was a child. I was part of their program, I was little and I was provided a mentor-ship and a peer just to be outside of my home life, which wasn ’t so good,” said Reel. “It was nice to be at the school with other people that were similar in age and able to be there for me whenever I needed resources with homework or whatnot.
So that was really special for me because I didn’t have that at home or anywhere else outside of them. I like to devote all of my walks to kids, for my first walk I got to raise awareness for a children’s home in Flint, Michigan. I think that our kids are our future
and I just want to do everything for our future.”
On her website is a link to her PayPal account and a link to BBBS of Shelby and Darke County for supporters of Reel and her cause can donate. The majority of money donated to Reel is going to BBBS unless the donor specifically notes the donation is for her use on her walk across Ohio. So far, Reel has raised around $300 for BBBS through speaking events, T-shirt sales and donations.
“She was a former little, so that’s exciting for us. Getting to know Rissa, I can tell that
she is very driven to make a difference in the lives of children,” said Executive Director of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Shelby and Darke County Katie Price. “Between that and her experience of being a little, she knows, from a personal perspective, how important it is to have that mentor in your life, to have that person who really just links arms with you and helps you truly achieve your fullest potential.
We’re honored that she also embraces our mission, our vision is for all youth to achieve their full potential and our mission is to create and support one-to-one mentoring relationships to ignite the power and promise of youth and when we find someone who is on the same wavelength with that and who really wants to see our youth thrive, we’re just honored because that means that they see the value in what we’re doing and they see and potentially experience that same impact that we work so hard to provide.”
On June 8, from noon to 1 p.m. the BBBS of Shelby and Darke County is welcoming Reel as she makes her way through the area to an open house event at the Sidney BBBS office, 2840 Wapakoneta Ave., to recognize Reel’s hard work. “If you see me out there — on the road, say hi, honk your horn, anything to make that contact with me it keeps me going out there,” said Reel.
SIDNEY — Tarissa “Rissa” Reel began her walk “Taking a Step Across Ohio.”
From Cincinnati to Cleveland on Monday, June 5, and by Thursday, June 8, arrived
in Sidney to meet the team at Big Brothers Big Sisters of Shelby and Darke County.
“It’s been really interesting to just be back in my birth town, to be honest,” said Reel.
“It’s really nice to see what they’re doing with my birth town and then to also be here
and experience all of the love from everyone that’s a part of this, it feels great.”
Originally her walk was estimated to be about 275 miles from Cincinnati to Cleveland,
but for safety reasons she added approximately 30 miles to travel through towns and also
avoid major roads and even use bike trails. Reel has been working to raise awareness and donations for Big Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of Shelby and Darke County before her walk has even begun.
Her website https://takingastep.com/ contains more information about her walk and her personal experience with BBBS. When she was growing up in Sidney and St. Marys, BBBS provided her with mentor-ship and support during some of the more difficult times in her childhood and now she wants to give back to the organization that supported her.
So far, Reel has raised around $500 to donate to BBBS of Shelby and Darke County and hopes to raise more as she continues her walk. As of June 8, Reel has walked 102.3 miles and has travelled through numerous communities including Troy, Piqua and Sidney. Along her route so far she has come across multiple kind strangers who have given her water or snacks and even offered rides she had to turn down. One family even gave her homemade cookies to keep her energized as she travels towards Cleveland.
Rissa and logistics man Justin Davis take a break for lunch in Sidney.
With the recent forest fires in Canada and the smoke travelling into the area and the air quality alerts that are in place, Reel continues to push forward while listening to her body and ensuring she cares for herself as much as possible, especially because she spends her nights camping along trails or in safe locations. Other concerns Reel is dealing with along the way include heat rash and muscle fatigue.
“People keep sending me stuff (about the air quality) and I can notice it a little bit just in my breathing, because breathing is a really big part of what I’m doing while I’m averaging a 15 minute mile pace,” said Reel. “I’ll feel a little bit heavy, but I just try to maintain watching my body and feeling it and if I just need to take a second to breathe a little bit more, then I do that.”
“I have had an amazing experience honestly; it’s been very beautiful.
It’s been nice to see the beauty of Ohio, because I’ve had some rough experiences in Ohio and some rough memories from my childhood and even my young adult life,” said Reel. “It’s been nice to meet all of the kind people that I’ve really needed along the way.
Reel plans to make her arrival in Cleveland by June 14 and from there, her next project will be to finish her walk from Michigan to California, which she started with her walk from Michigan to Kansas, by walking from where she left off in Kansas to California.
During her visit to the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Shelby and Darke County, Reel was presented with a plaque honoring her for her advocacy and dedication to BBBS and
a bag of snacks to keep her going as she finishes her walk.
Bonus: One True Step: Finding a Cure for Breast Cancer – YouTube
This is a story of women who have been through breast cancer.
But the message is true of any huge life challenge. When the path isn’t easy or clear, even the smallest step makes a difference. And even when we are alone, we are surrounded by more love than we can imagine. The lyrics and music of One True Step were written by Lucy Mathews Heegaard, after witnessing many friends go through breast cancer.
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Ep. 148 || Rissa Reel’s 800 mile journey for the voiceless | Threads Podcast: Life Unfiltered Episode on Amazon Music
Ep. 148 || Rissa Reel’s 800 mile journey for the voiceless | Threads Podcast: Life Unfiltered | Podcasts on Audible.com
Threads Podcast: Life Unfiltered – Ep. 148 || Rissa Reel’s 800 mile journey for the voiceless on Stitcher
WCSM Radio – We Do It For You !! – WCSM Radio – WCSM Headline News
Fundraiser by Rissa Reel : Walking for the Voiceless (gofundme.com)
A Reel Long Walk for Mental Health Awareness || Threads Podcast™
Rissa
on Instagram: “
Has to be tiresome …. Rissa Reel (@rissthewalker) • Instagram photos and videos
https://www.facebook.com/tarissa.glynn.1