"Once it became a passion, I couldn't put the shoes down," he said.
He's been training every day, running 10-12 miles at Lassiter Mill Park in Raleigh.
It's passion born from pain. When Jalen was just 11 years old, his family's home in Greensboro was burned down.
"The house was engulfed in flames, it was struck by lightning, two inches away from the gas line," he said. "It was a tough thing to kind of watch the family memories torn into ashes, but at the same time but those ashes made me the man I am today.
The one memory he had was of the firefighters who ran into the flames as he escaped.
"Once they saved the house, it kind of lit a fire in me to put my feet on the pavement for them, and what's this cause is all about," he said
He decided to pay it forward -- raising money for the North Carolina Firefighters Fund. His goal is to run more than 150 miles down backroads across North Carolina from Raleigh to Charlotte in two days.
He's already raised more than $5,000. His company, The Coley Group, matched it for $10,000 raised and counting.
His proud uncle, Kenneth Nixon Sr., a veteran and now fire captain in Raeford, said he never realized how much firefighters meant to Snipes after what happened to him as a child.
"When he told me that, I was honored he's going after something that I'm a part of," Nixon said.
The money goes directly to firefighters' training and education programs across the state.
"We're just glad to see, I'm glad to see a young person like this making an effort to support the fire service. We need more supporters like him," said Raeford Fire Chief Donnie Smith.
You can learn more about Snipes' cause here. He will be leaving for his 150-mile journey on Friday at 8 a.m. from the Raleigh Central Fire Station No. 1 in downtown Raleigh.
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