(WJBF) – Back in May the story of Davon and Tavon Woods caught a lot of peoples attention.
The twin brothers were removed from their biological family at birth due to their mother’s drug use, and their time in foster care was a difficult one.
They made it their mission to shine a light on the foster care system, so they walked from Georgia to Florida to raise awareness.
The Woods Twins didn’t stop there. Soon after their first walk they announced that they would walk in every state, to help raise awareness on the foster care system.
So far they’ve walked in twelve state, and stopped in Guam as well. Through out their time they’ve received an overwhelming amount of support, as well as plenty of media attention.
The Twins have also had several other things happen since their initial walk. Recently, the twins have had a film crew making a documentary talking about their story.
They’ve also purchased property that will be a transitional home for kids that have aged out of foster care.
We reached out to the Woods twins to talk to them about all of this, and what they plan to do next.
How many states have you walked in so far?
“We actually completed 13 states, so we have thirty seven left, and we added Guam. Guam isn’t a state but we added it, so it’s been an amazing journey. We’ve met a lot of amazing people,” said Davon Woods.
How much have you been walking in each state? What’s the process like?
“When we go there of course we catch a flight, get checked in, get situated, relax for the day, and then in the morning we get started around seven, eight in the morning, we have to get an early start, especially on days when we were walking and it was hot. So we get there and get set up, and get ready for the walk, and normally we’ve been averaging between eighteen to twenty miles per state. Some of the routes are a little shorter, some are a little longer, but anywhere between eighteen and twenty miles,” said Davon.
Are you both still motivated?
“It’s most definitely the bigger cause that keeps us pushing, because walking twenty miles in every state isn’t easy, it’s very challenging physically and mentally. So we just find the courage and the strength to keep pushing and keep going because we know what we’re trying to do in this system, and the foster care world, so we got to keep pushing,” said Tavon.
Talk to me about some of the people that you’ve met on your travels. I see that you both have received a lot of support.
“The support has been amazing, it was pretty shocking with how many people were supporting us, especially when we were in Guam, everyone was dropping us off water. Everyone was dropping us off snacks to keep us going, but we’ve been connected with so many amazing people. I just want to tell everyone thank you all for supporting and helping our cause because at the end of the day we can’t do it ourselves. We’ve been meeting life long friends, family, people allowing us to stay at their house, be around their kids, and it’s just been an amazing journey, so I’m just ready to see what else God has in store for us,” said Davon.
What’s it like when people recognize you?
“That’s about every place we go now. Whether it’s the air port or whether we’re out just doing something, we’re liable to run in to someone that has seen our story everywhere we go now. It’s truly a blessing, it’s an amazing journey,” said Tavon.
What’s the next state that you go to? Where do you go next?
We’re probably going to end up going to California or Nevada, or heading back towards West Virginia, so we’re still undecisive as of right now,” said Davon.
I saw on social media that someone has reached out to you about doing a film. Talk to me about that.
“It’s an amazing journey. We’re in the process of shooting our film as we speak and we started about two weeks ago in Atlanta. We have our own crew, producer, our own team, and everything is official, and when we were on set it felt like we were dreaming because it’s been something that we’ve been waiting on for so long. We’re also doing funding our self so we do have a link so people can go on there and support, because this film is going to touch the world. It’s going to shine a very bright light on what’s going on in the foster care system,” said Davon.
Now we also heard that the two of you have purchased a piece of property. Tell us about that.
“We’ve been blessed with an amazing starting place to start our first transitional home, and that transitional home will help kids that have aged out of foster care, and that home will cater to kids, and give them all the things that they need to be successful, to be stable, and to thrive in life, and right across the road we have 7.8 acres that we’re going to continue to build other homes as well,” said Tavon.
How does this make you feel?
“It honestly doesn’t feel real because we just started doing the walks at the end of May, and from May up until now, it hasn’t even been a year yet, and God has been opening so many different doors. So it’s just a blessing by itself, but at the end of the day what we’re doing is very important and the world needs to hear it. Two young black men that’s doing something positive, fighting for a change, and being a voice for those vulnerable kids. It’s just an amazing journey,” said Davon.
After you walk fifty states, what’s next?
“After the fifty states we plan to go international. We want to do walks in different countries because it’s not only an issue here, it’s an issue all over the world so, we just don’t want to focus on the issues here, we want to focus on the issues all over,” said Davon
Anything else you want to say to anyone listening?
We just want to tell everybody that we take this very seriously, this is something we really want to make happen and we need everyone’s help. Just like Martin Luther King had a dream for blacks and whites to play together, we have a dream to make the foster care system greater. We know that it’s a problem, we want to be able to aid that problem with our system. So we just need everyone’s help and we appreciate all the love and support. It’s been amazing,” said Tavon.
The Wood’s Twins still have a long journey ahead of them, and we’ll keep up with them as they continue to walk in each state. If you’d like to support their journey you can go to their GoFundMe page.
