PARIS — A contingent of Navy SEALs arrived here Thursday morning, halfway through a grueling 95-mile trek from the summit of Mount Washington to the shores of Sebago Lake in Casco on one of the hottest days this summer.

Their mission?

To bring sunshine into the lives of children with life-threatening illnesses in the second annual “SEALs for Sunshine” fundraiser.

“What they do at Camp Sunshine, you will not find anywhere else in the country or even in the world,” retired Navy SEAL Justin Legg, 37, of Washington, D.C., told a large crowd gathered at Moore Park in Paris to greet the SEALs during a brief stop at about mile 50 of their bicycle trek.

Founded in 1984, the camp on Sebago Lake serves children with life-threatening illnesses and their families from around the world. Services are free and include 24-hour medical and psychosocial support and private family suites, paid for with donations and supported by a staff of 80-plus volunteers and paid staff.

Legg, a cancer and double-lung transplant survivor who was master of ceremonies, said unlike the SEALs who have intense preparation for their missions, the children and their families are stunned by cancer diagnosis.

“They never had the opportunity to prepare for what came. It hit them out of the blue,” he said.

To help counteract and support the entire family, Navy SEAL Cmdr. Mike W., a Windham native whose last name cannot be revealed because of his active duty status, founded “SEALs for Sunshine” in 2014 to raise money and awareness for the work at Camp Sunshine.

“It is important to me personally to help others. That is the core of a servant-oriented life,” Mike W. said before the event. “I believe strongly in what Camp Sunshine offers to families with children that have life-threatening illnesses and I don’t want any family left behind. If our efforts can reach one new family, then it was worth it.”

Mike W. said the first-year goal in 2014 was to raise $80,000 to bring 40 military families to a Camp Sunshine session in 2015. Mike W. said this week the final 2014 tally was about $218,000, including two $50,000 donations from Shaw Brothers and the New Balance Foundation.

This year the goal is $100,000 – enough money to send 50 military families to camp.

Mike W. said the idea for a “Summit to Sunshine” event was the “brainchild” of Mike Smith, events coordinator at Camp Sunshine.

“Following our successful 13-mile swim across Sebago Lake in 2014, we needed something new and challenging this year. Mike’s idea fit perfectly,” Mike W. said of the reverse triathlon.

The reverse triathlon included a 7.6 mile run down Mt. Washington, an 83.4-mile bike ride through New Hampshire and Maine and a 3.9-mile swim in Sebago Lake to Camp Sunshine in mid-afternoon.

Just before 5 a.m. Thursday, under a crown of fog, four Navy SEALs and one Coast Guardsman, who all flew to Maine this week from across the country, began running down the Mount Washington Auto Road, arriving in one hour and 15 minutes.

“I don’t recommend running down Mount Washington as a way to start the morning,” Mike W. said as he and his team members arrived at Moore Park about five hours later.

Training for the grueling event was not easy for all of them, said Mike W., whose parents waited anxiously for the group to arrive in Paris.

Two of the participants are competitive Ironman-level athletes and were able to thoroughly train for the Camp Sunshine event. But the other three team members had to rely more on “inner strength” because of recent professional and personal challenges, Mike W. said.

“The good part of going down Mount Washington is that, worst case, we could just roll down,” he said before the event.

The run down the mountain and initial miles on bicycle were so successful that by the time they got to Bethel, the group was told to slow down from their 22-mile-per hour pace to coordinate with the time announced for a stop at Moore Park in Paris.

Mike W. said the support along the route was tremendous. At Davis Park in Bethel a dozen people waved and cheered, a family held up a large American flag in South Bethel and passing drivers waved to show their support.

From Oxford, where they stopped briefly at the Anderson-Staples American Legion Post 112, through Otisfield, where they were greeted by more supporters, the group headed south to Camp Mataponi on Sebago Lake in Naples. From there, they swam 3.9 miles, landing at the Point Sebago Resort beach next to Camp Sunshine later in the afternoon.

“You don’t get that (support) everywhere, but you get it in Maine,” Mike W. told the crowd in Moore Park. “That helped us out a lot.”

Central to the stop at Moore Park was the opportunity for the team to meet with other veterans, including a contingent from the nearby Maine Veterans’ Home.

“Thank you for your service. You guys did the watch. It’s our turn now. We’ll make sure we make you guys proud,” said Mike W., an 18-year veteran of the SEALs.

Legg spoke quietly with those from the Maine Veterans Home, telling them about his time as an active Navy SEAL and his subsequent medical issues.

When asked by a veteran what Legg thought of his time as an active-duty SEAL, Legg said, “I loved it. It was the greatest time in my life.”

Paris Selectman Sam Elliot and state Rep. Kathleen R. J. Dillingham, R-Oxford, welcomed the SEAL team and Camp Sunshine volunteers and employees to Paris.

“We honor them and salute them,” Elliot said to the SEALs.

The SEAL team will be volunteering with the children and their families at Camp Sunshine over the next few days.

“Once one member of the family is affected, every member is affected,” Legg said.

For information on how to donate to SEALs for Sunshine, go to: http://www.sealsforsunshine.org/.

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