Local Carry The Load walk honors fallen veterans

By: Rob Rizzo NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Who are you carrying? It’s a question posed by the Carry The Load Walk. Step-by-step, participants honored fallen veterans in a three-mile walk. The East Coast leg of the Memorial May relay kicked off at Harbor Park in Norfolk Wednesday morning with 33 members of the Bank of America team walking alongside volunteers from Carry The Load. “We’re walking to bring back the true meaning of Memorial Day and honor those who served, both military and first responders,” said volunteer James Jeffers. The non-profit focuses on getting everyday Americans together in honoring the sacrifices of military veterans, first responders and their families. “We have non profits that deal with PTSD and suicide prevention,” said James Santos of Carry The Load. “We have non-profits that help servicemen and women returning home. We have some that deal with just surviving children of line of duty and service deaths.” The nationwide relay covers 20,000 miles, and this group from Bank of America walked 4.5 of those miles to the Lowe’s on Military Highway in Norfolk. “It’s part of the mission, sir,” said volunteer Malique Brinson. “Whether there’s people with us or not, we are always going to walk, rain or shine.” Brinson and Jeffers walked alone as the temperatures stared to rise, straight down Virginia Beach Boulevard for another four miles, reaching Fire Station 7 in Virginia Beach. “Rain, shine hot, it doesn’t matter,” Brinson said. “We’re still going to walk,” Brinson said.