On Valentine’s Day evening, while some were sharing a romantic night with their sweetie, the Bonney Lake Lion’s Club and Don Stevenson passed the University of Washington Eye Institute an $8,100 love note.

Stevenson, known by some as the Pacing Parson, raised the money walking 1,500 miles from Rugby, North Dakota to Auburn City Hall. Stevenson accomplished the trek over three months during the summer, walking part of the way blindfolded.

“If I didn’t have a guide, I’d be walking in circles,” Stevenson said. “Usually, I’d get someone to volunteer from the Lions along the way. If not them, than some folks from local churches would volunteer, even some reporters who walked and talked with me.

“It’s hard to pinpoint what it’s like. I guess the biggest thing was making sure I didn’t get hit by an automobile while I was blindfolded.”

Stevenson has completed at least one marathon walk a year since 1998, beginning with a cross country hike to Portland, Maine when he was 62 years old. His causes have included Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and spina bifida, among others. He said he walks to attract more awareness than he might through other fundraising routes.

He dedicated his 2012 campaign to his friends James and Patti Premo and their son Nicholas, who was born with detached retinas.

“This really restores one’s faith in humanity,” Eye Institute doctor Russell Van Gelder said after accepting the Lion’s Club’s donation. Van Gelder said ophthalmology is a field of medicine with growing demand as the population of senior Americans increases. Funding and building research infrastructure was of paramount importance in making new advances.

“That’s why it’s all the more important we have partners,” he said.

For Stevenson’s part, he is already planning his next journey: a 7,000-to-8,000 mile walk for multiple sclerosis.