Coming together one step at a time
Bomb scares, shootings and other tragedies are hard to cope with and the effects are devastating.
There are people who want to bring the nation together by trying to fix problems one step at a time.
Cody Lundsford and his wife Heather are organizing a LibertyWalk.
On January 1, 2008, the 4,913-mile journey of LibertyWalk will begin.
“This event will last 185 days, ending on Independence Day. We are departing from Austin, Texas, and covering 20 states,” Lundsford said.
Each mile symbolizes issues in the United States Constitution, such as civil rights, veteran’s rights, peace, equality, poverty, education, environmental issues, Constitutional rights and immigrations.
“The path of walking will be shaped like a star, and each leg of the star will have a certain focus directed towards a problem in that area,” Lundsford said. “The portion of the walk between Indianapolis to Green Bay will touch on poverty, and civil rights issues will be the focus in the southern portion of the U.S.”
Walkers will cover an average of 26.5 miles per day.
“We care about our country and want to see people be proud of it too. Our goal is that all U.S. citizens will participate and get involved,” Lundsford said. “We are asking college students in particular to get involved and walk a portion of the journey.”
The LibertyWalk is a charitable organization with a goal creating awareness for some of the toughest issues the country is facing
“There will be 145 security and medical crews members following the walkers, and we have a Board of Directors who are contacting every small town we plan on walking through, so that there will be food and water provided,” Lundsford said.
At each of the five points of the star, rallies will be held to create a platform for all citizens to speak to the nation regarding projects.
The common man should be the one talking though, Lundsford said.
“We don’t want any politicians speaking throughout the walk,” Heather Lundsford said. “This is a perfect opportunity for the people of our nation to stand up and be heard.”
So far several sponsors have contacted the Lundsfords to help the cause. One of them was Nike, but they turned down their donations.
“We don’t want to be supported by a company that has young children doing underpaid labor,” Lundsford said.
Movie producer of Patriot and Lion King is looking into producing a documentary about the LibertyWalk.
The words of Ben Franklin are an inspiration to Lundsford and his wife when planning the LibertyWalk.
“Hatred and liberty are taken away even more by security. If you take away liberty for security than you lose both of them,” Lundsford said, quoting Ben Franklin.