Beginning Thursday, Fountain Hills resident Steve McClellan will participate in a 16-day walk across the state of Arizona to raise awareness of child abuse and neglect.

The walk will benefit Crisis Nursery, an organization in Phoenix that provides shelter, medical treatment, education, and foster care and adoption services to children in need.

Crisis Nursery also supports families through counseling and crisis intervention.

McClellan, a Phoenix firefighter, is walking with fellow firefighter Joel Anderson and avid hiker Joe Kuiken.

Their route begins at the border of New Mexico and Arizona near San Simon, Ariz.

They will then walk west, generally following Interstate 10, until they reach the border of California near Ehrenberg, Ariz.

They will be walking an average of nearly 27 miles per day – that is more than a marathon – and a total of more than 400 miles. The trip could last up to 17 or 18 days.

The men hope to raise about $10,000 for Crisis Nursery, Anderson said.

Walking may seem easy, but training for such a long journey has been more challenging than both Anderson or McClellan expected.

“One day I walked 30 miles in the heat in the dead of summer and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” said McClellan.

Anderson had a similar experience, saying he felt like he “was going to die” when he overestimated how long he could walk in one day.

Still, the men agree that it is a worthy cause.

“These kids are thrown into the system and forgotten about. We’re trying to raise awareness for them,” Anderson said.

A child is abused or neglected every hour, and the numbers are increasing in Maricopa County, according to The Long AZ Walk Web site.

“I think it’s one of those areas that a lot of people don’t want to think about and address,” Anderson said. “Children don’t have the ability to help themselves so they need organizations like these.”

Crisis Nursery is located near Phoenix Fire Station 11, where McClellan and Anderson work. For McClellan, interacting with the children was a motivation to help.

“I see these kids behind our station that have lost their parents or their parents are in jail. They’re pretty much on their own and I just couldn’t imagine my daughter going through that,” McClellan said.

Donations can be made to Crisis Nursery directly, or there are a number of corporate and community sponsorships to choose from on the Web site they have set up, http://thelongazwalk.webs.com