Man Walks Ortega Highway To Fenway Park Trek For Abuse Victims

LAKE ELSINORE, CA — A Sedona, Arizona man is walking from California to Boston, asking no more from you than a penny to help build a safe house for abused children and their pets. Michael "Cappi" Capozzoli is walking across America to draw attention to his "Just A Penny Please" foundation. He'll walk through 10 states, walking from Dana Point to Fenway Park. He hopes to arrive there around his 67th birthday, in late September, and perhaps even throw out the first pitch for the Boston Red Sox. A man can dream, but Cappi just might have the chops to make it happen.

39 years ago Cappi volunteered at a safe house and witnessed a 2-year-old child who had suffered abuse at the hands of someone who should have protected her. Having never witnessed abuse himself, either as a child, or a parent, he was immediately moved.

"I made a commitment to my maker that I would do something about it if I could," Cappi told those present at the Jan. 31 Dana Point Monarch Beach Sunrise Rotary Breakfast. "I've had a blessed life and it's time to pay it back."

A former race walker who participated in the 2013 senior Olympics, Cappi is stepping up to raise $250,000 to build a safe house for children to go to when they and their pets have nowhere else to go.

That's a total of 25-million pennies he's hoping for, and he's already received 2-million pennies to start his journey.

Cappi isn't interested in asking for specific donation amounts. At his sunrise rotary breakfast in Dana Point on Groundhog Day, his Just A Penny Please Nonprofit organization raised more than $210 dollars. Not a bad start for the walk of "Groundhog Day" over 16 mile mile stints. Cappi started his journey leaving Dana Point through Coto De Caza, began his hike across the Ortega Highway, the twists and turns and hills made Lake Elsinore a welcome sight.

He'll sleep in his camper trailer, driven by a friend along the way, and is seeking assistance with overnight parking, daily. "People are most benevolent, I've found," Cappi said. A GoFundMe campaign he is running has already raised $22,000 of the $250,000 goal.

By Sunday, Feb. 4, he made it 16 miles on Saturday, to Banning, Calif.

"I'll be stopping at minor league baseball parks along the way, and some professional parks as well," Cappi told an interviewer from the Verde Valley Experience in November. "Baseball is going after domestic violence in a big way."

"Family in America is broken, it's fractured," Cappi said. "One out of three have abuse in their lives." If he can do something to aid those in crisis, along with their pets, he feels called to do so.

"Most shelters don't accept pets, 40-percent of the abuse situation, an abuser threatens the pets," Cappi said. "As of now, there is not a pet friendly shelter in Northern Arizona."

Excited, a little afraid of the unknown, Cappi has trekked from Dana Point to Banning, near Palm Springs. Next, from Palm Springs to Phoenix. Then, he will cross Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and ultimately Boston, Massachusetts, straight to Fenway Park. By his estimates, it will take him until September to reach New England. The only bad weather he is expecting is Northern Arizona.

Cappi has a pace car towing his high-low travel trailer. One friend is towing the trailer through California, another through Arizona. After that, he plans to stop at police stations, fire stations, he's left the remainder up to the universe.

Follow Cappi at www.JustAPennyPlease.org

Donate at: https://www.gofundme.com/gofun...

Go Fund Me courtesy photos.