Rooftop pastor begins walk across country

June 5, 2012 (NEW YORK) (WLS) -- The Reverend Corey Brooks began a walk from New York to Los Angeles Tuesday morning to raise money for a South Side community center.

Read his itinerary

Brooks appeared on "GMA" Tuesday, followed by a press conference at New York's United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.

"I want to walk across America because too many black boys are dying at the hands of other black boys and ain't nobody sayin nothin' and someone has to face the challenge," Corey Brooks said in his final sermon at New Beginnings Church before he accepts the challenge. "It's about the children in the neighborhood.

Brooks was the man who lived on the rooftop of an abandoned motel for 94 days. He is trying to bring attention to Project Hood.

It's his plan to build a community and economic development center near 66th and King Drive. The motel had become riddled with drug dealing and prostitution. And he wanted the building to come down.

Through his fundraising and with some help from movie mogul Tyler Perry, Brooks met his first goal. The motel came down.

Nadine Williams has been watching Brooks flourish and make positive changes in his community.

"For him to be a young man doing wonderful things for us, it's magnificent that he has the courage to do what the Lord is asking him to do because he could just say 'I can't do it, it's too much, but he's a go-getter and he's going for it."

His next goal is to raise $15 million for the center. He plans to walk from New York City to Los Angeles, raising awareness of how violence affects everyone in every city.

"I believe people not only in Chicago but in America are going to give and I believe with everything in me that we're going to raise the money to build a wonderful facility," Brooks said.

He knows he may not raise all of the money along the way, but he hopes he at least he draws a lot of attention to a big problem.

Brooks began his journey Sunday afternoon with his trip to New York. He'll start walking across America Tuesday.

To learn more about Corey Brooks' mission to walk across America click here: http://www.projecthood.org/

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