'2100' podcast host Jason Peters celebrates milestone with charity walk to Atlantic City

When Jason Peters promised his listeners in 2019 that he'd walk to Atlantic City if his "2100" podcast amassed 15,000 downloads, he thought it was a "pipe dream."

Two years later, the podcast skyrocketed past 15,000 downloads — and he kept his promise. Last week, Peters took off on a 62-mile journey from Cherry Street Pier in Philadelphia alongside Carlos Aponte, executive director of We Love Philly, a nonprofit after-school program. 

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"I decided I was going to take the walk and rather than doing it for no reason at all, I'd do it for a cause," Peters told the South Philly Review.

Peters and Aponte teamed up to raise awareness and funds for We Love Philly, which seeks to empower students by teaching them life skills and providing professional development. 

The pair left last Friday evening and walked 15 miles. They completed another 21 miles Saturday. When they reached Atlantic City on Sunday, they were greeted with We Love Philly students and a drumline. Then, they dipped their feet into the Atlantic Ocean.

Aponte said his goal was to raise $30,000 to help We Love Philly convert a shipping container into an Airbnb that the students can list and manage, CBS3 reported. The initiative has been dubbed Project OwnerSHIP. 

"The students will do all the work, maintain it, use it to make money, learn about ownership, the value of property and all of that in the process," Aponte told the South Philly Review. "It's teaching real-life skills to people."

Peters and Aponte had raised $12,800 for Project OwnerSHIP by the end of their trip. We Love Philly also reached their goal of getting 10 Philadelphia nonprofits to put youth on their boards, Aponte told PhillyVoice.

Aponte said during the walk, Peters developed blisters that were so bad, he had to use a cane. He said they survived off of Wawa and kindness from strangers.

"Do it again — no. I mean, maybe if it wasn't 90 degrees," Aponte said. "It was brutal."

Aponte said the look on the student's faces was worth the pain of walking through the heat

"It was definitely worth it, just for the whole event — for students to see someone that they have been working with, collaborating with, and who they consider a mentor do what they say they're going to do, and do something for them," Aponte said.

The "2100" podcast, which launched in January 2019, is a "time capsule left for the people of 2100 to dissect and find with it what they want," according to Apple Podcasts.