Brockville man walking 22 km Saturday for Rucksack March for Remembrance

BROCKVILLE, ONT. -

With Remembrance Day approaching, a Brockville, Ont. resident is walking for a cause on Saturday, raising awareness and funds for service members and first responders.

So if you see Jason Ross walking along Hwy. 2 give him a honk.

He's participating in the Rucksack March for Remembrance, raising money for the Wounded Warriors program with a 22-kilometre walk.

"I'm pretty active, but I was never long distance so this should be pretty exciting especially with the full ruck and 50 pounds on me," Ross told CTV News Ottawa.

He came across the event on social media, with the march held in five major cities across the country on Nov. 6.

It aims to raise $100,000 and awareness for military members and first responders battling mental health issues.

Ross decided to do his own walk virtually this year with the closest city walk in Toronto.

"As soon as I got onto it I realized it was something I wanted to take part in," said Ross.

"I grew up in this area so I wanted to set routes a little bit with the (Prescott) Legion. I just felt a little bit of home base would be good to support our local community and first responders."

While Ross is not a service member himself, his family is strong supporters of the military, with his uncle a 20-year plus military member stationed in Wainwright, Alberta.

"The legion president is a family friend through my uncle, so I wanted to reach out just to support that local community of the first responders and I know how much the legion supports this type of event," Ross said.

Ross will start his walk at the Prescott Legion and head west along Hwy. 2, ending at the War Memorial in downtown Brockville.

Prescott Legion Branch 97 is happy to be a partner, said first vice president Veronica Burchell.

"We resoundingly decided to support him, it was unanimous," she said. "We felt what he was doing was a really great effort."

The legion team has even donated to his cause.

"The legion donates to a lot of community causes and we were pleased to donate 250 dollars," burchell said.

Ross set a goal of $1,000 to raise, and had already surpassed that on Friday.

"Everybody's jumped on, it's been individual supporters as well as businesses in town and I'm feeling the love," he said.

He added he's never done a walk like this before but had been practicing on his treadmill.

"I'm not getting any younger, my knees are pretty rough, but I think I should be able to make it and the support that I get from the community is only going to push me a little bit more," Ross said.

"The end of driveways, people driving by, honk the horn, the more support the more notification we can get for this, that's exactly what we are looking for," he added.

Jason Ross of Brockville, Ont. will march 22 km on Saturday in the Rucksack March for Remembrance. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

Ross will spend a moment at the War Memorial when he arrives in Brockville to reflect, and invites anyone that's followed his journey to join him for celebratory drinks at the Keystorm Pub.

"Thank you very much for all of your support," he said.

There is still time to donate to Rucksack March for Remembrance by visiting Ross's page.