Vol. 14, No. 2 • May 2010

Jimmy Wayne Asks: Meet Me Halfway

by Jeanne J. Preisler

We first told you about him in the November 2008 edition of Fostering Perspectives. Formerly in the North Carolina foster care system, Jimmy Wayne is now a famous country music singer/songwriter. But his legacy will reach far beyond his music.

Authentic. Honest. Caring. Generous. Passionate. These are just some of the words that come to my mind when I think about Jimmy. It was late December 2009 when I was tempted to add crazy to that list. It was then that I learned he had decided to walk halfway across America. Yeah, that’s about 1,700 miles, in the winter months no less! Who in their right mind would do something like this? And why?

The why is pretty easy to answer actually…because Jimmy cares deeply for kids aging out of foster care with no place to go. He’s walking 1,700 miles in the rain and snow and sleeping in a tent or wherever he can to raise support for the thousands of homeless kids, teens, and young adults currently on the streets of America.

He named the journey “Meet Me Halfway” because he’s asking everyone in America to do just that—meet him halfway on this issue. If you can’t be an adoptive or foster parent, be a mentor. If you can’t be a mentor, donate to an agency that works with at-risk youth. If you can’t donate, volunteer. If you can’t volunteer, tell a minimum of 50 people about the Meet Me Halfway campaign. Do something, anything to help. All of your efforts will make a positive difference.

HomeBase Youth Services is one of the charities that will benefit from the Meet Me Halfway campaign. Their website (http://www.hbys.org) describes homeless youth as “ghosts wandering the streets, and they will either die unnoticed, or return to haunt society.” That’s a pretty powerful imagine.

In 2008 Jimmy said of Russell and Beatrice Costner, the elderly couple who took him in, “I’m so glad that family took a chance on me. They’re 100% responsible for me and my success and everything that’s happened to me today. [It] is all because of that family.”

Mr. and Mrs. Costner passed away many years ago. But their legacy—a legacy of caring more than others think wise, risking more than others think safe, and expecting more than others think possible—lives on in Jimmy Wayne.

Let’s reward Jimmy’s efforts and make choices today that will put an end to youth homelessness.

To learn more about Jimmy’s Meet Me Halfway campaign, visit http://meetmehalfway.jimmywayne.com

Copyright � 2010 Jordan Institute for Families