P.L.E.A.D. Walk: Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Washington, D.C.


P.L.E.A.D. Walk

Prevention, Legislation, Education and Awareness of alcohol-related Deaths

	Home Walk With Us Contact Us Get Involved Scrapbook Contributions More About Us Plead Journals			Dale Swartzentruber was born September 28, 1952, and graduated from high school in Nelson County, Virginia in 1970. From 1970 to 1972 he volunteered with the Espicopal Diocese of Alaska, where he witnessed firsthand the devastating effects of alcoholism on a small village in the state's interior. In 1974, he married his childhood sweetheart Martha Miller, and returned to the same area of Alaska to live a subsistence lifestyle working seasonal jobs. In 1977, he ran the Iditarod Sled Dog Race from Anchorage to Nome (over 1,000 miles). In that same year Dale and Martha adopted their first child, Audrey Marie, and their son Jason Darius was born in 1978. The following year the new family moved back to Virginia to be closer to loved ones. In Virginia, they spent four years on a dairy farm, and for the next nine years they managed a beef and lamb farm. They returned to Alaska once again in 1993 to operate a tourist business on the Alaska Highway. In March 2002, Dale took his eight dog team on Norman Vaughn's Serum Run from Nekana to Nome, covering a portion of the Iditarod trail. During their eight years on the Alaska Highway, Dale and Martha met many people trying to raise public consciousness of various social issues. These people, whether riding bicycles or on horseback, whether running or jogging or driving tractors, gave Dale and Martha the inspiration for this walk. By walking from Prudhoe Bay to our nation's capital, they hope to provoke conversation and action, while promoting awareness of the many ways alcohol adversely affects and destroys lives.

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