SUMTER, S.C. — A set of twins, born in Sumter, are five days into their goal of walking 600 miles to raise awareness for children in the foster care system. News 19 met with them the day before their journey, and now we’re catching up with them as they continue the trek.
Davon and Tavon Woods started their 31-day journey on Dec. 1 in front of the Sumter County Courthouse. Now, they’re in Latta.
“Honestly, it's been going very, very well,” Davon shares.
The identical twins are over 70 miles in, walking on the side of the road hoping to make it all the way to Philadelphia. They say they’re averaging about 15 miles a day all to raise awareness about kids in the foster care system.
“People know that we're very passionate about doing this because I mean, obviously we don't have to be out here walking. We don't have to, you know, be doing what we're doing, especially during this time of the year,” Davon explains. “But we just really wanted to make a statement and let people know that, hey, foster kids matter and not just foster …not just the kids but anybody that ever experienced foster care in general like we're doing this walk for them. So even if we were just walking a mile I'm pretty sure it would be so meaningful to those that actually been in the system.”
Their friend, Justin McCoon, ended up driving to meet up with them on Monday. After his second day of walking alongside the brothers, McCoon says his perspective has shifted.
“The best thing yesterday, what I realized was them walking for the cause, like so when you get done with the walk, of course your feet hurt,” McCoon details. “But when you think about all the kids and stuff that we’re walking for and stuff, it kind of takes the pain away.”
“It's just all about just having that mentality of like, man, like no matter what, like I'm still going to push but sometimes you want to lay in the bed and be like, man, like my feet hurt, my legs hurting,” Davon says. “But man, we just, we know what we're doing it for, who we doing it for.”
They’re sharing their journey on Facebook, getting lots of support along the way.
“It's been great seeing everybody, you know, share, share the stuff that we're doing,” Tavon says. “It’s amazing because that's what we need: the word to go out there and just let people know that we're just simply just raising awareness.”
“Yeah it’s been crazy man. We've been going to places that we never even really been to before. And it's just been people just blowing their horns,” Davon adds. “Yesterday somebody stopped to take a picture when we was in Brownsville, so it's just like just knowing that the word is out there and people know about us, so we’ve been getting a lot of honks and most definitely want to make sure that everybody knows that foster kids matter.”
When it comes to safety, the brothers say they have had a close call with cars passing by. On day one of the journey, they shared an update on Facebook after Davon says his brother was almost hit by a car.
“I mean, we know what we do is very dangerous. And just the other day, another car trying to pass another car and they almost hit us but it's just you know, we just act terrified and just pay attention,” Davon explains. “Of course, if they see us walking on the side of the road, just kind of just go over to the next lane.”
The brothers have mapped out a list of where and when they’ll be hitting different cities:
- Dec. 5 - Latta, SC
- Dec. 6 - Dillon, SC
- Dec. 7 - Bennettsville, SC
- Dec. 8 - Lumberton, NC
- Dec. 9 - Fayetteville, NC
- Dec. 10 - Dunn, NC
- Dec. 11 - Roanoke Rapids, NC
- Dec. 12 - Petersburg, VA
- Dec. 13 - Richmond, VA
- Dec. 14 - Laurel, VA
- Dec. 15 - Fredericksburg, VA
- Dec. 16 - Stafford, VA
- Dec. 17 - Arlington, VA
- Dec. 18 - Washington, DC
- Dec. 19 - South Laurel, MD
- Dec. 20 - Arbutus, MD
- Dec. 21 - Baltimore, MD
- Dec. 22 - Rossville, MD
- Dec. 23 - Newark, DE
- Dec. 24 - Brookside, DE
- Dec. 25 - Wilmington, DE
- Dec. 26 - Claymont, DE
- Dec. 27 - Chester, PA
- Dec. 28 - Eddystone, PA
- Dec. 29 - Ridley Park, PA
- Dec. 30 - Glenolden, PA
- Dec. 31 - Philadelphia, PA