Lincoln man donates bench to East MoPac Trail

Robb Finnegan wanted to do something special to honor the memory of his late wife, Joy.

By donating a bench to her favorite jogging spot, he hopes it will benefit many who enjoy being outdoors.

Robb Finnegan and his wife Joy would often enjoy coming out to the East MoPac Trail to take runs and bike rides together.

Their connection to the trail is what led Robb to want to do something special for her after she passed away.

"My wife Joy, she passed away in February from cancer and she ran many, many miles out on this trail so I thought it was kind of fitting that we would have a memorial bench out here around the 2 mile mark on the MoPac trail," said Robb Finnegan.

Mopac East is a 22–mile trail offering year–round recreation for hikers, joggers, bicyclists and wildlife watchers.

The new bench was installed last Friday and it’s located between 105th and 110th streets, on the north side of the trail.

Robb’s friends and family wanted to help out by donating to his bench idea.

One friend came up with a clever t–shirt slogan to raise money in the fight against cancer.

"Many people wanted to help in many ways when my wife was sick and he wanted to send us good thoughts, and he came up with #JoyPower and I told my wife that I was going to make this go viral," said Finnegan.

Robb is an employee with the Lincoln running company located off of 12th and Q street.

They have #JoyPower shirts available for purchase, and all the proceeds will be going to the capital humane society.

At the end of the day, what Robb wanted most of all, was to honor his wife’s memory and give to a cause she was passionate about.

"She’d be very happy. I think she’d love this place but she would not want everyone to be making a big fuss about her. But I really do think she would enjoy the location and just being out on the trail, she loved to be outdoors," said Finnegan.

If you can’t make it to the Lincoln running company store, you can still order a shirt online.

Robb says he’s probably going to be spending a lot of time at Joy’s bench.