Brothers hike for the unemployed

The bond of brotherhood never felt more intense for Tim and Matt Lhotka, Yuma High School alumni, when they were laid off within months of each other.

But similar misfortune inspired them to embark on a hike benefiting the unemployed.

Made painfully aware of the hardships of the recession by personal experience, the Lhotkas took a proactive approach and came up with a plan. Their vision was to backpack the California Coastal Trail, from Bodega to San Francisco Bay, soliciting pledges of financial support.

The 100-mile journey began Wednesday, with an expected finish on Tuesday. Their aim is to raise $1,000 for unemployed families.

"Once unemployment happens to people around you, you begin to focus on it," Tim said. "We would like to inspire random acts of kindness and hope others follow our example and raise tens of thousands of dollars."

Tim has e-mailed friends and family and has asked for a minimum of $20 donations. So far he has $300 in pledges. All funds raised will be turned over to the Central United Methodist Church in Mesa, where the brothers' grandmother attends worship service, and will be disbursed to the needy by church deacon Pat Goss.

"We've never been backpacking before," Tim said. "We'll be carrying 30 pounds and that can be difficult, hiking some elevations of a thousand feet, because we'll be on all sorts of terrain - sand, bluffs and inter-states - but we expect to do 13 miles a day."

Tim has a master's degree in kinesiology and worked as a sports psychologist, training athletes at the University of California-San Diego for nearly a year until the spring.

His fiance, an interior designer for the Expo Design Center, also lost her job but recently got a part-time sales position. She will write a blog about their journey and was also part of his motivation to do the fundraiser.

His other source of inspiration was John Krakauer's film "Into the Wild," which recounted the the life of Christopher McCandless, a university graduate who abandoned suburbia to live off the land.

Tim still has family in Yuma. His father teaches ethics and religion at Arizona Western College.

After getting laid off, Tim moved in with his fiance's parents in Mesa, where the two could pool resources until securing employment again.

"I didn't have any kids or a mortgage so I felt fortunate," Tim said. "But a lot of people do have those responsibilities. So that's the main reason why we're doing the trip."

Older brother Matt was laid off three months ago from Ankron Moisan Architects in Portland, Ore., where he spent the last year and a half helping design a hotel/casino. About half the firm - 160 people - have been let go since the start of the recession.

"At the start, the trip was just a way to keep my spirits high while I looked for a job," Matt said. "But the original idea was Tim's and when he told our grandmother, she told him about her church and all the people impacted by layoffs."

Matt said he was very excited when Tim told him about donating money. Now he says he is geared up to help those who found themselves suddenly thrown out of work through no fault of their own.

"After the trip we'd like to continue raising charitable donations," Matt said. "I also contacted friends with blogs who will spread the word and generate larger donations. I was amazed by the response when I first e-mailed friends."