Updated: 6/8/2009 10:27:56 AM Posted: 6/7/2009 5:19:08 PM
CLEVELAND -- Tom Kotula found a way to combine his passion for rowing with his desire to serve others.
"Now being young and having the time, I wanted to go out there and actually make a difference," Tom says.
So Tom, 25, a former Cleveland State University rower, took a leave of absence from his job as a mechanical engineer to convert an old sailboat into a row boat, which will be his home away from home for the next six months as he rows from Cleveland down to the Florida Keys.
"I figured if I just sleep on board a boat, then you don't have to pay anything," he says.
At cities all along the way, Tom will dock his boat and volunteer for Habitat for Humanity.
He says his 2,000-mile trip breaks down into three months of rowing and three months of working.
Joining Tom for the first two months of the row is friend Jon Hauserman, former Cleveland State rowing teammate and Parma resident.
"I think it will be a really good life experience," Jon says.
Since Jon, 22, has to return to Cleveland State for his senior year, others will join Tom for the remainder of the journey.
As for making the trip happen, both Tom and Jon credit family and friends with helping build the boat and offering financial and moral support.
That support was on display on launch day Sunday at the Cleveland Rowing Foundation. A gathering cheered Tom and Jon on as they pushed back from the dock and put oars to water for what promises to be the voyage of a lifetime.
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