Davon and Tavon Woods, twin brothers who have made it their life’s mission to be a voice for foster children, are returning to Greeleyville with an upcoming event for the Williamsburg County community where they grew up.
During the April 8 event — starting at 12 p.m. — the duo plans to walk from C.E. Murray Middle School to the Greeleyville Town Hall. Davon Woods said they encourage the whole community to come out, as they will be providing free food as well as doing some giveaways, such as shoes, for the kids.
Woods said a crew from Good Morning America is slated to be onsite filming and there will be vendors stationed at the event.
“We want to just able to bring the community together, because there is so much going on in today’s world,” Davon Woods said. “So, we just want to be able to do something positive, and we have plans to do it every year.”
The nearly one-mile walk on April 8 is not the first trek the two brothers have experienced recently, as they have previously walked in 23 states in under eight months as a way to be a voice for the foster care system, a system they both went through together.
“We were born into the foster care system,” Woods said. “We were originally from Sumter. Our mom was doing drugs while pregnant with us. We got placed into the system and that’s when we got adopted by a family here in Greeleyville.
“Growing up, it was extremely hard not hearing I love you, not being treated the way we should have been treated.”
Woods said that no one in Williamsburg County outside of their home knew what they were going through, including their teachers, classmates and others in the Greeleyville community.
“Everyone saw that we were smiling and always happy, so of course when you see someone who is always smiling and happy; in your mind, you’re thinking that child isn’t going through anything or that person isn’t going through anything,” Woods said. “Me and Tavon actually went 17 years not knowing anything like we didn’t know where we were from, we didn’t know why we were placed in the system.”
Not wanting other kids like them to experience what they did; Davon and Tavon came up with a plan last year that would give them an opportunity to be a voice for the foster care system.
“I just happened to scroll on Tik Tok and I noticed a guy walking around the country for mental health, so I told Tavon that we should do a walk from Georgia to Florida,” Woods said. “Be mindful, we didn’t train for this. It just kind of came out of the blue, so we started with Statesboro, Georgia to Jacksonville, Florida. I believe it was like 96 miles and we did that in four and a half days.”
Even though the two brothers mostly walked on rural roads, they said the support they received along the way was crazy.
“People were stopping on the side of the road giving us water, or helping us out whether it was donations or taking care of our food,” Woods said. “It was just the power of social media. We would post that we were coming up to this town, so what way it would people a head’s up and they would stop by and blow their horns and take pictures.”
With the first 96-mile trip out of the way, the brothers said why not make an effort to step inside all 50 states as they both quit their jobs to focus on spreading awareness for foster kids.
“Of course, we don’t get paid for walking across the country,” Woods said. “Everything is just based on God, faith and passion. We just took that leap of faith to be able to go out there and do something that nobody is doing.”
Woods said they are sponsored by Statesboro’s Best Running, who provides them with their shoes to allow them to walk long distances, but also for their giveaways for foster kids.
The duo said they not only plan in the future to not only open schools and facilities to give kids what they deserve in life, but step inside the existing public school system to share their story.
“We actually plan to go around to all of the schools and just give the kids hugs and say something encouraging to them so that they can know that they can keep pushing,” Woods said. Me and Tavon want these kids to have a voice. Allow them to be heard.”
Source : The News
