Visitors to The Grocery Store last Thursday morning were treated to an unusual service: Captain America was helping customers load groceries to help support veterans. In this case, the man in the mask was Allen Mullins, who has been walking to raise money for veterans for 12 years. "Since 2009, I've made it my job to get out here in this country to find VFWs, American Legions, Vietnam Veterans, families with kids that need assistance. I organize a walk and help them out."

When asked about the choice of a Captain America outfit for his walking attire, Mullins explained: "There wasn't a Go Fund Me when I started. I don't think Facebook even existed in '09. So it was a lot harder. Social media as it is now wasn't as big. Also, I wasn't rich and famous. I was fighting a battle because how are you going to get people to care about you and what you are doing? How are you going to get them to recognize you when you're walking? So I was like 'Everybody has got their superhero.' I used costumes. I wore Spiderman, Superman, Halo, Batman, Robin, the old school Flash, anything to draw people's attention to get them to pull over and talk to me. The Superman costume worked. I loved the Superman costume. I loved the cape. It was fun. Then, about a year before the Captain America movie came out, you could get cheap Captain America costumes. I was like: 'That's it. That's the costume that I'm going to need.' Because iconically, he's a veteran and it's the best representation of what I'm trying to do when it comes to costumes. I wanted people to pull over and talk to me so that they would get a little quick story of what I'm doing instead of just assuming and driving off. So, the costumes come into play very well."

The costumes have helped gather attention to Mullins' efforts. A quick Google search is all you need to find news article after news article telling of his efforts to help out our country's veterans. In addition, he has the opportunity to spread the word to anyone who is curious enough to ask "...On the average day, I get between 10 and 40 people who pull over and talk to me. I give out flyers and get pictures. I'm looking at between 2 to 4 hours of my walking day just communicating with people. So I only get about 10 or 12 miles up the road." Despite traveling only around a dozen miles a day, Mullins has managed to travel tens of thousands of miles in his journey to help vets. "In 2009, I did a 5,000 mile walk. After that, I did all the state capitals, and I did all the state capitals again. I'm still going. I completed all three of those walks by 2014. Then in 2015, I got a walk for the VFW and American Legion out of Warren Springs, Oregon for the native tribe. I walked for them until 2019. Then the pandemic happened, and they closed their borders because they are a sovereign nation. I took 6 months off cause I didn't know what this whole thing was going to do. Then I was like: I got to get out here. There is somebody that needs me now, more than ever. I was looking for someone and through other people and other commanders and VFW people, they hooked me up to the guy I'm walking for now."

Mullins is currently walking to raise money for Gary Jerkins. "He is an Air Force medic of 20 years. He's retired. And this is going to help him get a place to live. Cause where he is living is a 1950s trailer, and it's crap. It's really crap. He's in Pullman, Washington." The original plan was to walk from Pullman to Harrisonburg, Virginia. Mullins passed through Big Sandy on

the way to Great Falls after a news report on his efforts ran in the city a couple of months ago. "I'm going to Great Falls because Great Falls did a story on me about 2 months ago when I was coming through from Shelby. They met me in Shelby... And this trek I am doing right now will be the last of my walking. So I'm going from Havre to Great Falls to do a story again. When I get back to Havre, I am done with the walking because there are certain parts of my body that are giving out on me." Mullins plans on finding work in Havre to raise the rest of the money to help Gary Jerkins find a new home. Though he can no longer physically continue to walk for fundraising, he still wants to help out, particularly since he gave Mr Jerkins his word he would do it. "So when I tell somebody that I'm gonna do something, I try my best to do it. So people have one more chance when I go there and come back through to donate. But once I'm done, and I'm in Havre I'm going to get a job and finish the donations."

For his own care, Allen does not accept money or gifts. "I don't want money. People are always trying to give me money. I want to make this clear. I don't need money, it does not dictate my walk. The love that I have for people in this world dictates my walk... and if you keep accepting money and accepting money, you can lose sight of your goal. If your goal is positive, it can corrupt you. You can move from that. So I only take what I need. If people want to help me: Gatorade, beef jerky, a warm meal, a shower, wash of clothes, that's it. Cash isn't necessary. The cash needs to go to him."

When I asked him what inspired his efforts to help veterans, he explained: "Hypocrisy of life. When I was a kid, I was told that veterans were heroes and if you see them, at least thank them for their service. And then when I got older, there were homeless (vets), getting arrested for being homeless, getting arrested for digging out of dumpsters... Then I would see famous people, people would run and jump start crying and yelling and screaming as if they're some kind of god or something. It don't make sense, because those people who are living up under the bridge that fought for this country are the reason those celebrities are able to exist. So the hypocrisy of life. I was like: There's got to be something more than this verbal support, because verbal support doesn't really do anything other than pat yourself on the back."

Anyone interested in giving to help Gary Jerkin get a new home can visit the Go Fund Me page "Walk for a Medic" or you can visit the "Allen Mullins (Captain America)" page on Facebook to find a link to the fundraising page.