Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles – Dozens of college students are spending their summer walking across America with a group called Crossroads. While the typical college student spends their summer going on vacation or earning money for school – these young people have instead decided to dedicate their entire summer to walk across America. The purpose of these walks is to help build a Culture of Life and with a special added theme of defending religious liberty. Starting simultaneously on May 23rd in Seattle, San Francisco & Los Angeles, these 3 cross-country walks will end together in Washington, DC on August 15th with a pro-life rally at the US Capitol Building.
This is the 21st annual summer that Crossroads has sponsored these walks for life. Students from dozens of schools are walking this summer along with several students from Canada as well. Also, due to the growing enthusiasm to defend life on an international level among young people, Crossroads is also sponsoring walks across Spain & Australia.
Over the course of 12 weeks, these walks will pass through 36 states and hundreds of towns and cities. Walking in shifts during the week, each person will walk up to 1,000 miles by the end of the summer. On the weekends, they stop to peacefully pray at abortion clinics and speak at local churches. By the end of the summer, they will have spoken at over 1,200 religious services, reaching out to hundreds of thousands of Americans at the grass-roots level.
The theme this summer is “Building a Culture of Life and Defending Religious Liberty.” Crossroad’s goal is to raise a better awareness among Americans and encourage others to get active. “We chose the theme of this summer’s walks because we feel like we are at a critical point in the history of our nation” said Jim Nolan, president of Crossroads. “Never before have our rights and freedoms as Christians been under such acute attack as they are now. If we don’t stand up now, we will lose these rights and the result will be nothing short of catastrophic for our culture and country” continued Nolan.
“I chose to walk with Crossroads to help be a voice for the voiceless and to stand up for those who are vulnerable and defenseless – especially unborn babies in the womb” said one of the walk leaders, Eric Zlatos, a recent graduate from Ave Maria University in Florida. “From the unborn to the disabled all the way to the elderly – the weak and at risk in our society are often being cast aside and seen as no longer useful or as burdens – that needs to stop – each and every human life is infinitely valuable and has meaning and purpose in the eyes of God” continued Zlatos.
The Crossroad’s mission is to actively spread the pro-life message through these pro-life walks. For the entire summer, these young people wear t-shirts with the words “PRO-LIFE” in large letters across the front, enabling them to catch the attention – and, hopefully, the hearts and minds of others.
For more information on Crossroads, contact info@crossroadswalk.org