interfaith “prayer walk” around the 80-mile circumference of Seneca Lake will begin Oct. 11 at 7:30 a.m. from Watkins Glen State Park.
October 7, 2013
Margie Rodgers, seen here speaking at the Seneca 12 rally in Watkins Glen in April, said she plans to complete the 80-mile walk but invited others to join for any part of the walk. / PROVIDED PHOTO
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Anyone interested in more information or willing to help with logistics can contact Margie Rodgers at (607) 738-5232.
WATKINS GLEN — A four-day, interfaith “prayer walk” around the 80-mile circumference of Seneca Lake will begin Oct. 11 at 7:30 a.m. from Watkins Glen State Park.
The intent is to make a statement – and offer prayers – to keep Seneca Lake and its watershed free from harm, particularly from the natural gas industry, organizer Margie Rodgers said.
The walk is also supported by the organization Gas Free Seneca.
The walkers will start their trek up the west side of Seneca Lake, going about 20 miles per day, with stops for lunch and dinner. Some of the walkers will be spending the night at stops along the way. Others have indicated they will join the walk for stretches of the route.
The prayer walk will end where it started at the state park.
“People are welcome to walk a mile or all 80,” Rodgers said. Several dozen people have indicated they will be participating in the walk and blessing ceremonies to be held each morning and evening.
“I am doing this prayer walk because I love Seneca Lake. I spent summers there with my family as I grew up. My mother, grandparents and great grandparents did also,” Rodgers said.
“Seneca Lake is for generations of families to enjoy, and not a place for big gas industry and the potential harm that comes with it. I’ve written letters, protested, been arrested in civil disobedience. And yet no legislative body has changed a thing about LPG storage on Seneca. So, all I can do now is pray.”
The prayer walk was inspired by Cheryl Strayed, author of the book “Wild,” and Sharon Day, a Native American from St. Paul, Minn.
Day will participate in the Seneca Lake event.
“Every body of water has a spirit. It’s this spirit that we are communicating with as we walk,” Day said. “We are telling the water, we respect you, we love you.”
Day is the executive director of the Indigenous Peoples Task Force.
This spring Day and a group of Ojibwe women walked the length of the Mississippi River from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico in a similar prayer walk.
“Every step we took was a prayer for the water,” she said.
GDACC 
