Originally published in Carroll Capital, the print publication of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. .听
Professors, parents, and others naturally have high hopes for students and young alums, but the expectations surrounding Gordon Wayne 鈥�23 are something else. 鈥淲e hope you will work and thrive鈥攁nd end this problem,鈥� said Anna Bissonnette, founder of Hearth, a Boston-based nonprofit. She was presenting the organization鈥檚 annual award to Wayne, and the problem she believes he could end is nothing less than the ongoing horror of homelessness in America.
Wayne accepted the award at a downtown gala hosted in October by Hearth, which seeks to combat elder homelessness in Greater Boston. He received the honor because of his personal story, his uncommon ability to inspire action, and his two feet.
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Gordon Wayne and Anna Bissonnette at the Hearth gala in October.
Now a student at University of Georgia School of Law, the young man strode into the national spotlight in August 2020 as he journeyed to Boston to begin his studies at the Carroll School. Wayne was making the 550-mile trek from his home in rural Virginia鈥攐n foot鈥攖o call out the plight of the unhoused. 鈥淗ome鈥� is a word used loosely in this context. He听had been living out of his car for 15 months, working full-time as a pizza delivery driver and loading up on courses at a community college.
Wayne was plunged into homelessness soon after finishing high school, a consequence of what he gently refers to as a 鈥渇amily collapse,鈥� not wanting to broadcast the hair-raising details. He used all of his savings to purchase a 2002 Honda Civic, foraged for food in dumpsters, showered at the YMCA, and worked 60-hour weeks at an amusement park. 鈥淚 felt worthless, beneath everyone else,鈥� Wayne says in his unhurried drawl. A believing Catholic, he says it was prayer that pulled him through鈥攖hat, and the satisfaction of earning his associate鈥檚 degree in one year. He then applied to four-year colleges.
鈥淚 still needed a miracle,鈥� he recalls, which materialized as an email from his dream school. Boston College accepted him with a financial aid package covering tuition, room, and board鈥攖he only school that believed in him enough to do so.听
Elated, Wayne considered what he could do for those left behind. "I'll walk to Boston,"听he decided. As he crossed from Maryland into Pennsylvania on bruised and blistered feet, a married couple stopped to help, heard his story, and called the local television news station. Then came national media coverage, and money poured into his GoFundMe campaign. He听raised $180,000 for the National Alliance to End Homelessness, which parceled out grants to organizations including Habitat for Humanity鈥檚 Boston College chapter.听
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At the Carroll School, Wayne鈥檚 concentrations were leadership and marketing. He gravitated to the Joseph E. Corcoran Center for Real Estate and Urban Action, which granted him a prized summer internship at Boston鈥檚 Mattapan Food and Fitness Coalition. There, he 鈥渞efined his skills in community mobilization,鈥� says Neil McCullagh, Corcoran鈥檚 executive director. Through the Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics and other campus groups, he spearheaded efforts to provide direct aid to homeless families. 鈥淗e brought his mission to 亚色影库, and the students ran with it,鈥� says Winston director Monetta Edwards.听
After graduation, Wayne walked again鈥攏otching 570 miles from Virginia to his law school in Georgia and raising another $27,000. This past spring, he did a semester in practice at the Washington-based Urban Land Institute, laying the groundwork for 10 principles on how the real estate industry could help end homelessness.听
Wayne says he now wants to use his lawyering skills rather than his feet to advocate for 鈥渕y people,鈥� those without homes. 鈥淚t鈥檚 mind-blowing,鈥� he says, reflecting on how far he has come since his sleepless nights in the Civic, 鈥渂ut I think this is just the start."听
