Jimmy Wayne takes Meet Me Halfway charity walk across Oklahoma

Jimmy Wayne (Associated Press photo)

From Friday’s Weekend Look section of The Oklahoman.

Singer Jimmy Wayne is on a mission to help homeless youths
Giving back: Drawing from experience, star takes steps from Tennessee to Arizona to raise awareness

With every step he takes, Jimmy Wayne is a man on a mission.

For the past few months, the rising country star has traded his microphone and guitar for trekking poles and walking shoes as he has journeyed from Nashville, Tenn., across much of Oklahoma.

The singer-songwriter, whose hits include “Do You Believe Me Now,” “Stay Gone” and “I Will,” embarked on New Year’s Day on his Project Meet Me Halfway walking tour. The North Carolina native is walking halfway across America on a deeply personal mission: to raise awareness of the plight of homeless teens, particularly those who age out of the foster care system.

“I was one of those teens. When I was 16 years old, I lived on the street. … An elderly couple in their mid-70s took me into their home and they gave me a home, they gave me an opportunity to go back to school, go on to a community college and then ultimately to pursue my dream and end up singing country music, which I truly love. And I wouldn’t be here today right now if it wasn’t for that family,” Wayne said last week in an interview at the OPUBCO studios as his journey neared Oklahoma City.

Wayne endured a turbulent childhood. His father abandoned the family, his mother did time in prison, and he grew up in a series of foster homes. His stepfather even tried to kill him. He credits that elderly North Carolina couple, Russell and Beatrice Costner, for not only getting him off the streets but also for encouraging his love of music.

Before walking through Del City this week, he recalled the last time he visited the suburb: His stepfather had committed a crime and fled with Wayne and his mother to the town, where they spent the night. Wayne doesn’t recollect where in Del City they stayed, but he remembers writing in his journal on the journey.

“That sure stirs up a lot of childhood memories,” he said.

While Wayne’s broken childhood has inspired his songs “The Rabbit,” “Paper Angels” and “Elephant Ears,” he wanted to do “make a statement on a grand scale” about the hardships facing at-risk youths.

“A lot of folks have asked me, how do you prepare for something like this, and I don’t really have the answer. I just was so convicted, I wanted to do something. I toured all last year with Brad Paisley and Dierks Bentley. … We played Madison Square Garden, which is one of the highlights of my career,” he said.

“But toward the end of the year, I was standing in my house, I was in a housecoat, drinking some coffee, stirring it, and I was thinking, ‘I have not done anything this year to give back.’ I had to come up with something.”

So, he devised a plan to walk from Monroe Harding, a Nashville foster care group home, to HomeBase Youth Services, a Phoenix, Ariz., organization that serves foster children and teens who age out of the system. He thought the idea was just crazy enough to get people’s attention.

“It’s incredible, the hospitality that I’ve encountered from Nashville to here: folks coming out on the side of the road giving me coffee, letting me stay in their houses,” he said.

“It’s just been amazing. When I hear someone say, man, this is a cruel world, it’s really not. People just need to know where to funnel the help.”

Supporters even turned a negative like having all his clothes stolen into a positive.

“It really brought the goodness out in people when they found out that my bag had been stolen with all my clothes in it,” he said. “I didn’t even have a coat, and I was walking in 20-degree weather. And it was tough … but folks were so kind to me.”

Followers sometimes walk a few miles with Wayne, but university professor and Army Lt. Col. Jason Garkey flew last week from Virginia to Oklahoma to spend his spring break marching with Wayne. He also spent a week on the walk back in January.

“He’s doing this for the right reasons. It’s not to come out here and promote Jimmy Wayne. It’s to come out here and increase awareness. It’s not a spectacle,” he said.

The walk has been tougher and taken longer than Wayne anticipated. He has walked more than 700 miles and has fewer than 1,000 miles left to get to Phoenix.

He crossed the Arkansas state line into Oklahoma on Feb. 16. He generally walks 15 to 20 miles a day, but occasionally has to halt the walk for concerts, Grand Ole Opry appearances and interviews.

Tennessee telecommunications company Hiscall has donated a support RV, car and driver for the project, and when Wayne must pause his marching mission, the driver, Josh Lewis, takes him where he needs to go and later returns him to the exact spot where he left off to resume the walk.

Wayne is currently traveling along Oklahoma Highway 152 west toward Amarillo, Texas. He expects to take about two more weeks to cross the border.

“It’s really been an experience I’ll never forget,” he said.

Meet Me Halfway

For more information on Jimmy Wayne’s Project Meet Me Halfway, go to http://meetmehalfway.jimmywayne.com or follow him on www.Twitter.com/JimmyWayne.

The country music star is currently walking the nearly 1,700 miles from Nashville, Tenn., to Phoenix, Ariz., to raise awareness of the plight of homeless youths, especially those who age out of the foster care system.

- BAM

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