It started with a simple Facebook status.

“If the Hawks pull this game out, I’ll walk from my house to CenturyLink Stadium,” reads the status — albeit with a word not fit for print omitted — of Spanaway resident Keith Comery.

The post was in the midst of a Seahawks team battling freezing temperatures on offense in an opening-round playoff game against an equally stifled Minnesota Viking squad. It was an ugly game, and the admittedly “glass half empty” Comery, also a Seahawks season ticket holder, was ready for an ugly result.

Then Minnesota’s Blair Walsh lined up for the game-winning kick. It seemed as though Comery wouldn’t have to worry about lacing up some Nikes, maybe a pair of the famous Pete Carroll Air Monarchs, and walking the daunting 16-mile-a-day trip.

The kick went up. He shanked it. He pulled it. He hooked it. Wide. Left. The Hawks were alive for another week.

Immediately, the comments and posts from Comery’s friends came rolling in.

“Right when they won, they were right on me,” Comery said. “‘Bam,’ start walking.”

A man of his word, Comery, a longtime Seattle sports fan, decided to put his money where his mouth is. To do it, though, he felt a need to make a difference with the trek.

“Once it happened I thought, ‘I can’t do this without some kind of purpose,’ Comery said. “I said, ‘I’ve got to find some kind of charity who will jump on board and help me through this and raise some money.'”

The result is what’s being dubbed The 12th Fan Walk, aided by the Federal Way Day Center, a group that seeks adequate access to basic needs like showers, laundry facilities and job resources that can help homeless people get off the streets. Comery liked the fact the Day Center isn’t a “handout,” that it rewards those who want to stop treading water and make something of their life.

“I’m pretty passionate about seeing this work,” Comery said. “It doesn’t matter how big the town is or how small it is, there’s homeless people there.”

In discussing the Day Center, Comery said every town needs something like it to strive toward one overarching ideal: being a good person. With fire in his voice, Comery said that if people provide the lip-service part of making changes then there needs to be action to follow it up as well. It’s exactly what he’s doing with his walk.

Comery, who has sons who have dealt with bouts of homelessness, knows the problem firsthand, a familiarity that was only enhanced as he frequently drove to work past “The Jungle” in Seattle.

“Going up through town, you can see homeless people everywhere,” he said. “They’re just everywhere. There’s a need, and you can’t deny the fact they’re in need.

“All my voyages through town to get to work, and seeing the struggles they have… I just wanted to do my part to see what we could do to help that.”

Comery’s walk will begin today, July 22, and finish at CenturyLink Field on Sunday. Comery will come through Federal Way tomorrow, July 23, passing an 11 a.m. rally at the Federal Way Farmer’s Market to encourage him.

For information or to donate, visit ccsww.ejoinme.org/12thfanwalk.