On July 6-7, two Skyline College faculty members will be participating in the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer

Sandra Hatzistratis, Physical Education division assistant, and Sylvia Martinez, admissions & records assistant, will be walking 26.2 mile, a full marathon, to raise money to help fund breast cancer treatment and awareness; In addition, the funds will help support uninsured women and men with breast cancer so that they can get the treatment they need.

Their walking team is called the Holy Walkers and is made up of Hatzistratis, her son Angelo, his girlfriend Jessica Gonzalez and Sylvia Martinez.

“The reason that we chose [Holy Walkers] is because my name Hatzistratis translates is a Greek last name, and the actual translation is Holy Walker so we all thought that would be appropriate,” Hatzistratis said.

Hatzistratis and Martinez got involved in the breast cancer walk because they were walking around Lake Merced one weekend and noticed a large group of people doing the Nike walk for lymphoma.

“And I said Sandra lets join them, so we just started walking along with them just joining the group and that is when it came into our minds that we should do this,” Martinez said.

“It is such a positive environment of people … and there was a lot of motivation to do something greater than yourself that’s what struck us,” Hatzistratis said.

That inspiration led them to start training to do the Avon Breast Cancer walk.

“The thing that we liked about Avon too is that all the money we raise stays in the San Francisco area” Martinez said.

Training six days a week, the Holy Walkers are working to build up their strength and endurance so they can complete the whole walk.

“We have been on a very serious training method,” Hatzistratis said. The workout regiment includes walking for seven hours on the weekends, hiking, and working out in the Skyline weight room.

“We want to do really well and we want the people who donate to our team to feel as though we are making a really valiant effort” Hatzistratis said.