What an exhilarating day! At noon today, April 30, 2025, Lam An Le and his group of 23 hikers along with 300 students, faculty, and staff crowded into the Lecture Hall in Language Arts Building at Evergreen Valley College (EVC), San Jose. All were there to listen to a panel of speakers sharing their moving stories about their boat journeys from Vietnam and Cambodia to America. Lan An Le was the last speaker, closing the event with the launch of his 1000km-trek from San Jose to Little Saigon in Orange County.
Yesterday, Len Ramirez at KPIX TV/CBS Bay Area, interviewed Le about his 1000km-hike tribute to Boat People. This afternoon KPIX TV station sent their cameraman, Vince, to capture the launch of Le’s 1000km-hike. Le and his group of hikers did a group hug before the hike to show spirit and support for this incredible journey of 1000 kilometers, for 50 days, to raise awareness about Vietnamese Boat People and to raise funds for EVC’s ASPIRE Program.
When ASPIRE’s April 30th event was over, Le and his loyal group of 15 hikers headed off EVC campus towards Yerba Buena Road. They hiked on it for 6 miles until they got to Guadalupe Trail, where they continued for the next 6 miles. All in all, it was a fantastic day for Le and his hikers. On his first day, even though they had only five hours of daylight, they covered 12 miles. Not bad.
Tomorrow will be his second day. More to come. Stay tuned!