Jimmy Wayne Celebrates Eight-Year Anniversary of Walk Halfway Across America for At-Risk Youth

Nashville, Tenn. — Eight years ago today, Jimmy Wayne finished his 1,700-mile walk from Nashville to Phoenix, on a broken right foot.

The North Carolina native took the first steps of that seven-month walk — and launch of his awareness campaign Project Meet Me Halfway — from the parking lot of Monroe Harding in Nashville on January 1, 2010, with the sole goal of raising awareness for at-risk youth in foster care and homeless youth.

“I grew up in foster care and I know first hand how important it is that kids in the system have access to even minimum resources,” says Jimmy. “I was taken in by Bea and Russell Costner when I was 16 but so many kids out there don’t have access to the help and love that I did.”

Eight years later, the award winning country artist has become the “patron saint of foster children” (Fox News) and lobbied to change laws extending foster care from age 18 to 21, in Tennessee, California and North Carolina.

“One of the most important things each state can do to help foster kids right now is to extend and implement foster care benefits to the age of 21. The facts point to why it’s so important:

• 1 of 4 young men are incarcerated within the first two years after aging out of foster care at 18.
• It costs a minimum of $30,000 per year to house an inmate.
• The tuition for a two-year program at a community college is $3,000.
• 50 percent of the young women who age out of foster care at 18 become pregnant within the first year. (Source: National Federation of Families: www.ffcmh.org)

By extending foster care to age 21, we give foster youth the opportunity to attend a community college and transition into adulthood, becoming productive citizens and saving taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars,” he says.

When Jimmy started his walk, he had celebrated six Top 20 singles, released his second full-length album, ‘Do You Believe Me Now’ (2008/Valory Music) and had just finished a tour with Brad Paisley (2009) that put him on high-profile stages, including that of Madison Square Garden.

What he’s done with his platform since then is reflected in the thousands of lives he’s helped change —  lives of struggling foster youth who would otherwise have become homeless after their 18th birthday.

It took seven months to walk from Nashville to Phoenix and over that time Jimmy honored every performance commitment his booking agency confirmed for him. He also met a few challenges along the way that included breaking his foot just days before he crossed the finish line and finding out, by email, that he’d been dropped from his record label.

None of that stopped him though, because, as he says, “it was always about the kids.”

Jimmy authored his inspiring memoir Walk to Beautiful: The Power of Love and a Homeless Kid Who Found the Way with 17-time New York Times bestselling author, Ken Abraham.  The book — Jimmy’s second — released on October 7, 2014 and quickly became a New York Times bestseller three different times. He followed with Ruby The Foster Dog and Ruby Toons, his first book and album for kids, on November 1, 2017.

“There’s still so much to do,” he says, as he continues to raise awareness for abused and neglected children through performing, writing and speaking all over the world.

Jimmy Wayne’s Career Milestone Overview:

• Jimmy is a former foster kid turned award-winning country music artist whose songs and story highlight his mission to raise awareness for kids in foster care.

• Jimmy’s hits include “Stay Gone,” “Paper Angels” and“ I Love You This Much,” which was featured by Coca-Cola during its #ShareASong campaign (2016).

• His three-week #1, “Do You Believe Me Now” earned BMI’s prestigious Million-Air Award for receiving one million radio spins in America.

• 2009 Jimmy toured with Brad Paisley and recorded “Sara Smile” with rock ‘n roll Hall of Fame duo Daryl Hall and John Oates.

• 2010, Jimmy walked halfway across America (from Nashville to Phoenix) to raise awareness for kids aging out of the foster-care system.

• 2011, Jimmy released the novel Paper Angels, which became a made-for-TV movie of the same title.

• 2012, Jimmy helped get legislative bills passed extending the age of foster care to 21 in both California and Tennessee, and in 2015, he did the same in his home state of North Carolina.

• 2014, Jimmy released Walk to Beautiful, his three-time New York Times Bestselling memoir.

• Jimmy Wayne is the youngest recipient to receive the Salvation Army’s William Booth award.

• In June of 2016 President George H. W Bush presented Jimmy with the prestigious Points of Light award.

• 2017, Jimmy was honored with the inaugural Community Maker award by Verizon.

• 2017, Jimmy received an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from William Woods University.

• 2017, Jimmy released Ruby The Foster Dog and Ruby Toons — his first book and music project for kids (Nov. 1).

• 2018, Jimmy Wayne received an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from Cal State University San Marcos.

• Jimmy has performed on the Grand Ole Opry 221 times.

• Jimmy lives in Nashville and continues to work tirelessly on behalf of at-risk foster youth by performing, writing books, keynote speaking and through ProjectMMH.org.