Members of the Five With D.R.I.V.E. Foundation – a group of RCMP officers and a military members looking to raise money for victims of crimes – are expected to stop in Merritt next Thursday, during their Freedom Walk from Vancouver to Toronto.

Local RCMP member Mark Macdonnell is a member of the group, which is scheduled to leave from Stanley Park on April 22. The group expects to end the journey on June 23 in Toronto, after stopping in Merritt on April 26 to speak to students at a school yet to be decided.

“It’s quite the adventure and we’re always looking to rise to the occasion,” Macdonnell said. “It really builds character to take on something like this.”

The team will carry their supplies in a trailer. Only the five men will be walking, so someone will get a break every four days to drive the truck.

Macdonnell was only able to get enough time off work to take him to Regina and then the team will continue on without him, collecting donations along the way. The team expects to walk about 50 kilometres per day.

The men are committing their efforts to victim services.

“When a crime is committed, the justice system is focused on rehabilitating the person who committed the crime,” Macdonnell said. “The victim who suffers the crime is really left with no support.”

The group went on its first walk in 2004 in Ontario, walking the distance of Young Street, the longest road in the world, at 1,896 kilometres.

The road starts along the Manitoba/Ontario border and runs all the way to Toronto.

At the time, Big Brothers and Big Sisters was the recipient of the donations the men raised.

“It took about 40 days and we raised about $50,000,” he said.

Their next walk, in 2006, went from Halifax to Toronto, raising money for adults with intellectual disabilities.

The team raised $100,000 for that cause.

Their latest walk is the first since 2006.

MacDonnel, who grew up in Greater Toronto, participated in the first two walks.

The latest trek is expected to take 63 days, for a total distance of 4,500 kilometres.

When in Merritt, the group hopes to speak at schools about bullying and violence.

Five With D.R.I.V.E. started several years ago and works in collaboration with the Calgary Police Service, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian Crime Victim Foundation and with Victim Services.

The group, founded by victims of crimes themselves, aims at giving similar victims a voice.

Founders Joe and Lozanne Wamback’s son, Jonathan, was assaulted.

They have said victim services and victim rights are “sporadic and underfunded at best.”