GREENFIELD, Mass. (WWLP) – A New England live streamer becomes the first person to document a walk across the country in efforts to raise money for a non-profit.

Sean Clancy began his walk across the country in Boston Sunday morning at 9:00 a.m. near the New England Aquarium. About 30 people gathered for the send off, including his friends and family. Viewers on his live streaming service, Twitch, also had witnessed his first steps on his walk around the country.

Clancy told 22News while he was in Cambridge, before leaving Boston, he had went to a boat dock near the Boston Harbor, where he stuck his hand in the water prior to walking. Clancy expressed how he was feeling since beginning his walk, “I’m feeling absolutely elated, so excited, feels like its been months, not years in the works coming and its finally happening.”

The Great American Subway Walk

In the days leading up to the beginning of his walk, Clancy had been training 10 miles a day for 10 months. Every 10 miles takes him about three hours. He has already begun to encourage others to become active on his Twitch account. For instance, he has seen people walking on their treadmills through his live stream. “It’s really fun to be able to do that,” Clancy said.

Twitch will be used to interact with his fans along his journey to document every step that he takes, whether rain or shine. Live streaming will also keep himself motivated, “relying a lot on reaction and daily conversations to keep attention,” he said. Clancy is the first person to livestream his walk across the country. He is using a device that combines signals to avoid losing signal on phone. The livestream can be watched at subwaysean on the Twitch platform.

Clancy will be walking 3,044 miles for the next six to seven months. For every 20 miles Clancy walks $20 is raised for the non-profit called Big City Mountaineers. The non-profit specializes in helping youth that lack access to nature an amount of resources like gear, travel, and other critical items. Youth are given a chance to experience the great outdoors and gain knowledge through funded nature trips.

“Every item they get so their sleeping bags, tents and everything, allows another kid to join in on the adventures that they have and so what Big City Mountaineers does is they work with organizations that already exist like the YMCA, Boys and Girls Clubs, and they take kids from unprivileged communities on these wild adventures and take them out to the wilderness to teach them the importance of connecting with nature and getting involved with hiking,” said Clancy.

MAP: View real-time route

The following are the twelve main state stopping points:

1. Massachusetts
2. New York
3. Pennsylvania
4. Ohio
5. Indiana
6. Missouri
7. Kansas
8. Mexico
9. Utah
10. California
11. Illinois
12. Colorado

Clancy will also be exploring specific landmarks such as the Grand Canyon. When it came to planning the route, Clancy considered a few factors. He said, “I looked up back roadways, avoiding highways of course, just because you can’t walk on those and when I looked those up, I picked a destination that was closest to California so between San Francisco and Los Angeles. Los Angeles ended up being the shortest route.” Clancy also used Google to plan his route more accordingly to walkers perspective with a viewable map that shows paths that avoid highways. “I try to use sidewalks the entire way so I used that to plan mostly this route.”

A baby stroller will be used to carry all of his supplies such as a first aid kit, tent, sleeping bag, and tech gear since his backpack won’t be able to hold too much weight.

He will only be allowed to eat products sold at only Subway restaurant chains out of every state, “another boost of extra motivation to keep going,” he said.

Clancy will be stopping in Franklin County, in the Greenfield and Deerfield areas as he heads into New York. According to Clancy, fans are welcome to say hello or join the walk, if happen to see him in a town they live in or a Subway restaurant. Clancy will be utilizing an app called Real-time IRL that live streams his exact location, in order for viewers to find him at any location he is at while live. “I actually encourage them if they live along the route to come out and join us for the walk.”

As Clancy continues his walk across the country his main goals are meeting as many people as he can, seeing the countryside, and advertise his partnership with Big City Mountaineers.

To donate to Big City Mountaineers visit gofundme.com.

Watch full Zoom interview with Sean Clancy