To be homeless is to constantly travel. Seeking out and engaging with community supports, finding a bite to eat and getting somewhere safe to sleep all demand an inordinate amount of walking from place to place. The magnitude of that travel over time — and the toll it takes on our homeless community — is exactly what Open Table Nashville hoped to convey this March.
“Throughout March, we asked our supporters to walk 15 miles throughout the month, and while they were doing that, talk to their communities, their friends and families, about Open Table Nashville,” said Cal Gurley, OTN’s digital communications coordinator. “We had a website where people could sign up and they got their own individual fundraising page they could share with their friends.”
The event was in anticipation of a one-mile walk fundraiser April 6, where OTN raised $20,887 for its street outreach and advocacy programs. Gurley said the events were as much about spreading awareness as they were about raising money.
“The idea behind this specific fundraiser came from the fact that many unhoused folks walk 10 to 15 miles in a given day, on average. The amount of walking that our friends on the street have to do in this city can take a huge toll on the body,” they said. “How much effort and energy is put into transportation every single day is not lost on us, and we wanted this fundraiser to be an education opportunity, and a chance to connect to the experiences of the folks we work with.”
In supporting its street outreach and advocacy programs, OTN plans to use the money to aid and house Nashville’s homeless community, as well as speak out against policies which punish and discriminate against the unhoused.
“Our outreach team really works to meet people where they are, emotionally and physically, they go all around the city working with folks to get their immediate needs met. You know, shoes, clothes, food, et cetera, as well as overcoming barriers to housing.”
“Things like getting an ID, getting a birth certificate, all the things they would need to apply for housing, as well as actually going through the voucher system … a lot of that takes money,” Gurley said.
“Tennessee is the only state in which it’s a felony to camp outside on public land, and that’s something we’ve actively been fighting. In fact, our advocacy team is heading to DC [April 22] for the hearing of Johnson v. Grants Pass, which is going to be a huge case in terms of the policing we can do for folks sleeping outside with a blanket or pillow,” they said. “That is nonstop work, advocating for our friends on the streets to have rights within our legislation.”
Gurley said that once people could quantify that travel with the 15-mile goal, they were surprised by how difficult it was to fit into their daily routines over a month.
“Some people were like, ‘wow, 15 miles is a big ask,’ and to imagine some of our friends doing that every day; I mean, we have one friend who has to walk five miles to the bus stop to get to work and then back. So it’s a lot of walking,” Gurley said. “Even for me, I was like, I thought I was going to get to 15 miles so quickly, but it takes a lot of effort.”
Once the April 6 walkathon finally arrived, OTN surpassed its fundraising goal before the morning was over. With a turnout of around 30 people, Gurley said the event was a jubilant break from it all.
“It was really exciting, we all got to celebrate together and just kind of be in community,” Gurley said. “These were all folks who had been part of the fundraiser throughout March, so it was great to thank them for their hard work and for their donations and for their time. It was a lovely time of community.”