Terminally ill pastor to kick off journey for suicide awareness

To raise awareness for mental health and share a message of hope, Pastor Richard Pope is planning to walk 100 miles while carrying a cross Monday, Aug. 2, to Friday, Aug. 6.

A kickoff celebration will be held at 6 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 1, at Canvas Church in Salisbury, Md.

The journey will take him and his team through three states in five days with the goal to complete 20 miles per day. He will be joined by members of his church, friends, and, on the last day, Mayor Jacob Day of Salisbury, Md. The walk honors the memory of his cousin Michael Smith, Salisbury police officer Aaron “Bull” Hudson and Joseph Fabber, three individuals who died by suicide.

Pope is a 2020 Jefferson Award Winner; a chaplain with Corporate Chaplains of America, serving at Coca-Cola Consolidated; and the pastor and founder of Canvas Church in Salisbury. He started the church with the help of the national organization Send Network and SonRise Church in Berlin, Md.

In December 2020, Pope’s cancer returned for the third time and in February 2021 he received a terminal diagnosis. “Hope is more powerful than darkness,” said Pope. That is the message he hopes to convey through completing this walk.

Any donations received will go toward the outreach budget of Canvas Church and the Joseph Patrick Fabber Memorial Foundation to support its work in suicide prevention.

The 100-mile walk walk begins in New Church, Va. and goes through Snow Hill, Md., and Berlin, Md., into Delaware. The route continues though Selbyville, Frankford, Dagsboro, Millsboro and Georgetown; across to Seaford; down through Laurel and Delmar; and ends in Salisbury.

Canvas Church’s mission is to creatively reach Delmarva to make disciples who make disciples. It strives to be a community that ministers to the whole person, mind, body and soul. The church gathers at 10:30 a.m., Sundays.

For more information, go to canvaschurchdmv.com.