Rahm and Quinn to Join Rooftop Pastor on Midwest Leg of Cross-Country Trek

Mayor Rahm will walk with Pastor Corey Brooks along Lake Shore Drive Sunday afternoon.

The Chicago rooftop pastor walking across America to raise funds for a Woodlawn Community Center had company during the Midwest leg of his travels.

Reverend Corey Brooks was joined by Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Gov. Pat Quinn Sunday afternoon during his walk to raise funds for his Project H.O.O.D. initiative to build a community center on Chicago’s south side and to quell gun violence nationwide.

"I'm hoping that with the mayor's influence and the governor's influence that it will take us to another level in reaching people that we would not normally be able to reach," the New Beginnings Church pastor said on Friday at a stop in Gary, Ind.

To date, Brooks has raised $50,000 of his $15 million goal to build a community center across from his New Beginnings Church in Woodlawn. He hopes to achieve the goal in three months when he plans to arrive in Los Angeles around Oct. 15.

Saturday night Brooks took a break from his walk to host a dinner at Logan Center at the University of Chicago.

His journey began at Time Square in New York on June 5. He has gone through three pairs of shoes and traveled about a third of the way to his final destination on the West Coast.

The idea to walk across the country came to Brooks after he spent 94 days camping on the roof of an abandoned motel to raise money to purchase he land to erect a community center in Woodlawn.

After receiving several donations, the largest from actor-director Tyler Perry, Brooks reached his initial goal. But that was just phase one, he said. Building the center will cost upwards of $15 million.

Brooks is raising the money to build the center debt free.

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