If you see a determined man walking this weekend toward the nation’s capital, chances are it’s Terence Lester. Almost 54 days ago, Lester started his journey to draw attention to the level of poverty in this country. He and his wife Cecilia Lester are the founders of Love Beyond Walls located in College Park, Georgia, which is an outreach organization to help the poor.
When rolling out spoke with Lester, he was 18 miles from Washington, D.C., and taking a quick break. We asked him a few questions.
What made you decide to take your walk?
It was two months ago when I decided that America needed a wake-up call on the issue of poverty in this country. To many senior citizens are trying to live on $180 a month and I have seen people who use the services of our organization suffering. When I met a woman who had walked seven miles to our facility for a bag of groceries something moved inside of me to take some sort of action. We see 400-700 families and individuals walk to our office each month for assistance.
What should people realize about the homeless?
When people see the homeless on the street, often they have preconceived notions in their mind which are totally unfair. Of course, there are a wide range of causes for becoming homeless butt one thing that is stripped from them is their dignity. That is one of the reasons why at our offices we have water bins, so the homeless can wash themselves and be fed. I hear their stories and I felt there was a need to elevate these stories. So I decided to put myself in their place and walk from the SCLC headquarters in Atlanta to Washington, DC. I will be going to the White House and then to the Martin L. King Memorial where we have a permit to hold a demonstration.
What has been the public’s reaction to your walk?
Since I have been walking there has been a strong outpouring of support from various communities. I was often met on the road by people offering water and food as I made this journey. I am being followed by our bus which stays two miles ahead and asks as a milestone marker and respite. There have also been as many as 300 people who have donated hotel rooms for me, the driver and videographer as we make this journey. In addition, people have joined in to walk along with me during various stretches of my progress. At one point there were over 160 people who decided to take up a portion of the journey with me.
This walk I hope will bring attention to the systemic poverty that affects so many in America. I want to humanize their story and educate people on this serious issue.
What do you hope this walk will help accomplish?
I want people to know that we can all do something to fight poverty. The first thing is to think and act locally. People need to serve and volunteer in their community, we must create the time to help. Poverty is real and we must come together as a collective to confront the issue. We need to rethink how we support the less fortunate.
Love Beyond Walls is located at 3270 East Main St., College Park, Georgia 30337. You can visit their website at Lovebeyondwalls.org for more information.
