On a Thursday night at the base of Spirit Mountain, mountain bikers whizzed by while half a dozen women stretched, prayed, and got ready to hike.

Anna LaCore organized the about 3-mile hike. It’s 1 percent of her goal for the summer.

“We are focusing on hiking 300 miles this year, and the reason for it is because of a ministry called Rooted Oaks International that I co-founded in 2016,” LaCore said.

She traveled to Rwanda last October and had an experience that led her to set the 300-mile goal.

“I met a woman named Diane who walks about 60 miles a week as a way to provide for her family,” she said. “So she’s a single mom of three kids, and she walks three days a week about 20 miles.”

Diane buys corn outside the city where it’s cheaper, then brings it back to sell in her community, making her about $7 a week.

“Her story really kind of settled with me as like, we need to continue to do things that will spread awareness of families living in poverty specifically in Rwanda,” LaCore said.

She presented the idea to her mom Casey, who didn’t take much convincing.

“When she suggested it, I thought, well, I’ve already hiked three-quarters of it. And bucket list goal to get the whole thing checked off,” Casey LaCore said. “So I said, ‘OK, I’m in.'”

A knee injury means Casey has had to more watching than walking lately, but other people have joined Anna to rack up the miles. They’re at about 120 so far this summer and hoping to raise $20,000 along the way.

“Rooted Oaks International’s vision purpose is to empower people to live lives of splendor,” Anna said. “And a lot of families, if you live in poverty, your life is all about survival like Diane. And she doesn’t get the space to get to pursue who she was made to be because she’s just taking care of herself and her kids.”

She’s also encouraging people to do their own 60-mile challenge this summer.