Hiker wants to talk to Obama about nonprofit organization

Manny Kober is walking nearly 450 miles just for a chance to get a five-minute meeting with President Barack Obama.

Wearing sneakers, jeans and a T-shirt that read "Walking to the White House," the 47-year-old Myrtle Beach, S.C., man passed through Richmond yesterday.

He has been walking 10 to 12 hours a day -- an average of 40 miles -- since he began the journey March 2 in his hometown. He hopes to finish the trip Friday, he said.

Once outside the White House, Kober hopes he will be invited in. He said he has tried to contact the White House and other public officials but has not received a response.

Kober wants to talk to the president about the Save American Families Everywhere Foundation, a new nonprofit organization in Myrtle Beach that is collecting monetary donations to buy market-value properties and give them away to Americans through a raffle.

The group's goal is to stimulate the struggling economy and housing market, help Americans who don't have homes and contribute to other charities, SAFE's founder Melanie Hayes said.

Kober, who owns a building company, had to laid off about 100 employees as a result of a construction slowdown. He has been volunteering with SAFE and said the program will help bring the economy back.

"I want to explain this program to the president, tell him how it works and gain his public endorsement," he said.

Yesterday afternoon, having covered 340 miles, he walked along the 9000 block of Brook Road in Henrico County with no hurry, no iPod and no backpack. His feet did hurt a little, he said.

A relative followed him in a car with a GPS navigation system, and about 6 p.m., they stopped to rest near Doswell.

Back home, friends and acquaintances were cheering for him.

"I am really proud of him. I think it is wonderful that somebody cares enough about the program to do that. I don't know many people that have the determination to walk from Myrtle Beach to Washington," Hayes said.

As for Kober, seeing his destination drawing near made him think more about what would happen if he gets his five minutes with the president, and what happens if he doesn't, he said.

"It will be a shame," he said.

Contact Luz Lazo at (804) 649-6048 or .