OXFORD – As his loose-limbed stride tookthe Rev. Frank Jewett rapidly down Route 26, an occasional driver honked and waved, recognizing the minister of the Oxford Advent Christian Church.

Starting before noon, Jewett had been walking from his home on Skeetfield Road to stop in at stores and restaurants all along Route 26.

In his sports jacket, colorful tie and sturdy walking shoes, the 51-year-old pastor didn’t quite resemble a hungry, bedraggled orphan searching for food. But nonetheless, he was thinking of orphans during his quest Wednesday afternoon, seeking money to help children who have lost their parents to the AIDS epidemic devastating much of sub-Saharan Africa.

Some of the donations, too, will be used to help children in Oxford Hills, he said.

“I’m walking for the kids,” Jewett told Dan Bubar, the assistant manager at Wal-Mart, his first stop. “I’m walking all the way to Norway Lake. I sent a letter to all the places with food along the way, because that’s where orphans would go first. I’m wondering if you want to help.”

As he walked through the store’s detectors before the exit doors, he said, “We’re trying to save 1,000 kids from dying. I feel this is what I need to do.”

Bubar’s response – that Jewett would have to speak to a higher-up, someone in the corporate office – became a familiar refrain at the stops to Subway, Hannaford, Pizza Hut. But Jewett remained optimistic.

After leaving Wal-Mart, Jewett charged off, crossing the parking lot and hitting the street. “I have been preparing myself for “Nos,” he said. “I’m just planting seeds.”

This farming metaphor came up frequently during Jewett’s roughly four-mile walk.

“Two miles already. Hopefully, over the next two weeks we’ll get a harvest,” he said. Jewett is trying to raise $30,000 in Oxford Hills to give to two organizations that focus on Africa – World Vision and Central Africa Vision – and to children locally. So far, he has raised about $4,000, one-quarter of which came from the owners of Vittles and Griddles in Oxford.

Jewett has been a pastor in Oxford Hills for 18 years. He grew up in Southern Maine, son of a schoolteacher and homemaker, and attended Berkshire Christian College in Massachusetts. His first job was ministering a church in Sunshine, a small town on Deer Isle. Then he took his family on a mission to the Philippines, staying four years. He returned to Oxford Hills and became the Africa/Europe director for his church, making many trips to 29 far-flung countries during the last two decades.

“I think I’ve had the privilege of seeing so much, and expecting so much,” Jewett said. He said he has seen children with swollen bellies, children living in refugee camps.

But it wasn’t until Bono, the lead singer for the rock band U2, started his “One” campaign, that Jewett felt inspired to launch his own effort. Although Bono does not have much faith in religion, the singer and activist has enlisted churches in his mission to end poverty and disease around the world. This is because this movement has to be from the ground up, one that does not rely on politicians or corporations, Jewett said.

Jewett pointed out that if every person in Oxford Hills gives $1, he would have more than enough to send to the charities he wants to support.

“Do you ever see a child die of hunger here? We can say that’s just the way it is, or we can do something. We have so much here.”

Although all but two restaurants said “No,” or “Maybe later,” all allowed Jewett to display fliers of an upcoming movie he is showing at the Oxford Hills Comprehensive High School tonight, at 7. It is an interview between Bono and a well-known minister.

In the next few weeks, Jewett said he’s also going to walk down Paris’ main drag, stopping at restaurants, followed by a day of walking to shops selling clothing. He’ll finish that up by visiting establishments involved in the housing industry.

Besides embodying an African orphan who might have to traipse long distance to find basic necessities, Jewett also said that he’s walking because faith without works is useless, a message from the Bible.

“If you’re just going to talk it, people say so what,” Jewett said. “Jesus didn’t just talk it, he did it. There are people who have the talk down but are hurting in the walk department.”

At the end of the day, Jewett had received a $50 check from Michael Santos of Michel’s Dining and Lounge in Norway and $20 from Gail Smedberg of Smedberg’s Market in Oxford. When he went to check his post office box, it was empty. “The good news is, is it won’t take a long time to count the money,” Jewett said with a laugh.

And despite just sowing the seeds without harvesting a large amount of money on his first day of walking and talking, Jewett was, at the end of the day, still optimistic.

“I did what I had to do,” he said. “You’ll see.”