Imagine being 13 years old and driving through Florida with your mom and stepfather. He pulls into a bus station in Pensacola and tells you to get out of the car. You get out and you see your mom crying as she digs through the trunk.
Your stepfather tells you to get your clothes. You get them out of the trunk. Your mom and stepfather get back in the car and drive off, leaving you alone with nothing.
That is exactly what happened to Jimmy Wayne, country music singer/songwriter and author.
“I thought they would come back for me, but they did not,” says Wayne. “From that point forward for three years, my life was a living hell. Couch surfing, being moved from one foster family to the next, going up to complete strangers, asking for food.”
When Jimmy was 16, he was going down the road on a “borrowed” bike, looking for work so he could get something to eat. He rode past a wood shop, saw a man inside and asked the man if he had any work. The man replied, “You’ll have to ask the boss,” nodding his head toward his wife, Bea.
“She looked at me and said, ‘If you cut grass, come back at five and you can cut our grass.’ I was back at five,” Wayne recalls. “I was their lawn boy for the rest of the summer.
“Toward the end of summer I was getting scared because the lawn would not need to be mowed anymore. That’s when Bea asked me where I lived. Not wanting to tell her I was homeless, I told her I lived up the road. I didn’t want her to know anything about me because who would want to be around someone like me?”
Russell and Bea ended up asking Wayne to move in with them. For six years he lived with them, graduated from high school, competed college and worked to follow his dream to be a musician.
Wayne, now 42, has made it big as a country artist. “I Love You This Much” and “Do You Believe Me Now” were two top 10 country hits. “Do You Believe” hit No. 1. He recalls playing Madison Square Garden several years ago on his birthday, Oct. 23. When he finished performing, he walked off stage to a birthday cake made Buddy Valastro, the “Cake Boss” on TLC.
Times certainly had changed. Wayne remembers being checked into a detention center on his 15th birthday. No cake, just a guard who said hurtful things to him.
“While living in a group home, I promised myself I would not forget where I came from,” says Wayne. “Right after playing Madison Square Garden, I was reminded of that promise. I made the decision to use my fame to bring awareness to children in foster care by walking halfway across America.”
Wayne spent seven months walking, meeting people and sharing his story about foster care and the number of children who age out of foster care at age 18 and become homeless. In 2012, he helped get bills passed that extended the age of foster care to 21 in both California and Tennessee.
He continues to raise awareness for kids by writing, singing and speaking. His most recent accomplishment is his book, “Walk to Beautiful: The Power of Love and a Homeless Kid Who Found the Way,” which he wrote with Ken Abraham. It’s a story worth reading and a beautiful reminder of the difference every person can make in the life of a child.
Julie Baumgardner is the president and CEO of First Things First. Contact her at julieb@firstthings.org.