Coalbie’s Warrior Walk reaches end
67-mile trek intended to raise money for Growing Up Greene
As a crowd of about 40 people trailed behind them and an untold number of people followed along online, Aaron Houser and Coalbie gazed over the Monongahela River.
It was a tranquil end to a 67-mile journey that people had been following since the previous Monday morning, when they set off from Fish Creek near Moundsville, W.Va.
In that span, Houser, the executive director of Growing Up Greene, and Coalbie, Growing Up Greene’s child therapy dog, walked the length of the Warrior Trail, braving rainstorms and rocky inclines.
Houser is looking to raise money for Growing Up Greene’s planned expansion into the Observer-Reporter’s former office in Waynesburg, which he hopes to transform into a hub for child welfare services in Greene County. And he also wanted to draw attention to the work being done in the county’s child welfare system.
“Personally, I haven’t felt this good in years, and I didn’t think I’d feel like that at the end of the first day,” Houser said after the walk, as Coalbie sat next to him chewing on a new Pop-Tart squeak toy. “She was still tugging on the leash for more at the end of a 10-mile day. We’ve raised a fair amount of dollars, and I think more than that, at this point, we’ve raised a heck of a lot of awareness for the child welfare system.”
People gathered in advance at the Ice Plant in Greensboro waiting for Houser and Coalbie to show up.
Shortly after noon, they crested the top of the hill: first, as always, Coalbie, then Houser, flanked by employees from Greene County Children and Youth Services who joined him for the last mile.
“Mr. Houser has dedicated his position in the county and his mission to make our jobs that seem impossible most days a little bit easier, and that’s what he’s doing with this project, trying to create a space for us to utilize to make difficult situations easier for kids,” said CYS Administrator Beth Booker.
Coalbie scampered downhill to the crowd, while Houser arrived soon after, exchanging hugs and handshakes.
After a few minutes, Houser and Coalbie crossed the street to walk down to the Monongahela River, with the crowd following behind them.
“Getting around those trees and seeing that, that was overwhelming,” Houser said. “Once we were close enough to see individual faces, I thought, ‘Yeah, that makes sense, and they make sense, and they make sense, and they make sense. There’s certainly a core group of people in Greene County who are the ones pushing for positive change, and I appreciate the fact that they consider us to be part of that circle.”
Greene County Board Chairman Jared Edgreen said it’s humbling to see the way the community rallied around a great cause. The county is disproportionately affected by child dependency cases compared to neighboring counties, and also faces hurdles such as transportation to get people to the resources they need. Nonprofits like Growing Up Greene can help fill in that gap, he said.
“He’s running out of room and he has to expand, and it makes a lot of sense there downtown,” he said. “You have the county building on one side, you have the courthouse, and then on the other could be this nonprofit, child-focused hub that really wants to put those resources out to the community.”
The group of CYS employees included Houser’s wife, Emily Houser, who works as a supervisor.
Greene County District Attorney Brianna Vanata said for Houser to take the time to highlight the importance of the child welfare system is “just amazing.” She had worked for CYS for three years, and remembered the days when caseworkers having to take shifts in hotel rooms with kids because there was nowhere for them to go.
“I think one of the hopes is that he’s going to have a nice, safe place that feels like a home for kids when they are displaced,” she said. “As unfortunate as that is, there is a need for it. So the sky’s the limit with this guy. He dreams big and he makes it happen.”
For the last mile, Houser was joined by Booker along with social service aide Mykala Rice and Emily Houser, a CYS supervisor and also Aaron Houser’s wife.
“I’m just extremely proud of him,” she said. “He never gave up. Coalbie never gave up.”
For the past week, she’s been following his journey through phone calls, photos and videos.
“He’s just extremely passionate about making Greene County better for everybody,” she said. “It’s where he’s from. It’s where his children are going to be raised. He wants it to be the best Greene County it possibly can be, and that’s where his heart and his passion lie. It’s being there for everybody in the county. Doesn’t matter who calls upon him and for what he’s going to help you. He’s going to be there for you. He’s going to find a way to make it happen for you.”
Aaron Houser hopes to be able to use the revamped Observer-Reporter building for a hybrid supervised visitation space, where parents who were successful in their supervised visits with Children and Youth Services can meet with their kids in a home-like environment.
The Observer-Reporter donated the nearly 90-year-old building to Growing Up Greene. But it will still cost an estimated $1 million for the first phase of repairs, including roof repairs and a complete remediation of the building’s interior.
As of Monday afternoon, a GoFundMe set up before the walk had raised $151,425 of the $875,000 needed after private donations.
Houser said he will leave the GoFundMe page up for the next two weeks, after which the board will assess whether they will be able to proceed with their plans for the renovation.
They have a good idea of what it will take to bring the building back to blank-slate warehouse quality, Houser said. Between the fundraising efforts, making connections with new contractors, and them possibly wanting to help the cause, he said, “we might be able to pull this off.”
“I said throughout this week I have prayed for the same two things for the last six months: soft hearts and open minds, and I put myself first on that list,” he said. “I think that if this world had more of both of those, we could really make some waves — no pun intended with us being on the side of the river.”
To donate toward the project, go to give.gofundme.com/warriorwalk.