Biking around the country for a cause

One man is traveling across the country to raise awareness and fight addiction one state at a time.

Jim Downs has spent the last 16 days on his trike and he doesn’t plan on hitting the breaks any time soon. Jim is biking through every state in the continental U.S. “This is going to take 369 days. I will be on that trike for all of 2019 plus four days of 2020. It’s going to be over 15,000 miles that I’m riding on that trike.”

On Wednesday, Jim made his way to the Gulf Coast. News 25 caught up with him in Pascagoula to talk about his mission to raise awareness about addiction, something he has first-hand experience with. “I am an addict/alcoholic of 34 years.”

Now that he is sober, it is Jim’s mission in life to help anyone who is suffering from addiction. “I want everyone out there to know that you hate the addiction, but you love the individual that is affected by it. That person, you know, they are still in there, and it is just that the addiction has got a hold of them.”

Everyday hundreds of people die from drug abuse. If you or someone you know needs help, Jim and his team can assist. “So if anybody needs any sort of help they can contact me, my team we can get them help today. We can get them in the resources they need.”

To contact Jim or follow his journey you can go to Facebook and search ‘Big Jim’s Walk, Inc.’ or go online to bigjimswalk.com.