SCOTT TOWNSHIP -- A young man from Luzerne County is taking on a big task in hopes of raising awareness for victims of child abuse.
He calls himself "The State Walker" and he's walking across the state.
Tuesday was the second day of the 19 year old’s trip walking across Pennsylvania from the New York line to Delaware.
“No one has done north to south, and no one my age has ever walked the state. It’s about the impact, the message. It’s about a whole bunch of other things.”
The idea came to him while he was out for a drive. He would hit the road on foot hoping that someone passing by would see him and ask why.
“Yesterday, actually, someone stopped and said, ‘What’s this?’ I said, ‘This is the state walker.’’'
He doesn't want to use his name, only the title of "The State Walker" while he's on this journey that will take about a week. He's pledged his time and given up his comfort to raise awareness for child abuse victims.
“As long as they see the cloak, as long as they see me, they’re also recognizing child abuse.”
The trek is close to 200 miles. We caught up with him around mile 35 in Scott Township in Lackawanna County.
His positive attitude and his legs will carry him through unfamiliar territory soon, but The State Walker admits that on the verge of adulthood, it's all unfamiliar territory.
He wanted to do something in the last year of his teens to make it count.
“When it’s all said and done, the factor of abuse in people’s lives often scars them on a level that people can’t see, so to recognize that there are people who are scarred, who hold those scars without showing them to other people, just builds a more compassionate world.”
