Man Arrives in Washington County on a Mission for Orphanage in Kenya
Steve Wescott, 36, of Spokane, Wash., who is walking across the county with his goat, Miles, to raise money for Needle2Square, stopped for a rest Thursday at Days Inn on West Chestnut Street in Washington.
Miles, a goat walking cross-country with Spokane, Wash., resident Steve Wescott, eats a leaf covered with cicadas Thursday outside Days Inn on West Chestnut Street in Washington. Wescott is in the background.
Steve Wescott doesn’t like to be known as just the “Goat Guy.”
“I don’t want this to be a gimmick,” he said.
It’s a tall order for the man who plans to spend the next four months hoofing it from Washington to New York City with his goat, Miles, to help raise funds for an orphanage his best friend co-founded in Nairobi, Kenya.
Westcott, 36, of Spokane, Wash., began walking at the Space Needle in Seattle four years ago and plans to finish the trip in Times Square in October.
Under the moniker Needle2Square, the project gathered a Facebook following of thousands and has a network of volunteer supporters and benefactors. It’s also propelled Wescott to appearances on national television and in newspapers across the country.
“I’ve slept behind dumpsters,” he said Thursday during an afternoon interview at Days Inn on West Chestnut Street. “I slept behind the aquarium in Denver.”
He was holed up in Washington while he waited to meet a documentary crew flying in from Seattle today.
Miles, who became Wescott’s second pet goat last fall, was tied to a tree outside the hotel. Wescott’s green reflective vest, shorts and a short-sleeved black hoodie made elaborate tattoos on both knees and covering his right forearm visible. The former full-time musician said he’d spent Wednesday night near Route 19 across from Fiori’s Pizza in Peters Township until a rainstorm woke the pair and their day began at 3:30 a.m.
Since 2012, Wescott has begun walking every year May 2, the anniversary of his father’s death from cancer. He takes a break when grazing gets scarce every year.
LeeRoy Brown, Wescott’s first goat, died in Ohio in October.
He said he’s raised about $88,000 for Uzima Outreach – a nonprofit that provides services for people with substance abuse problems and runs an orphanage – through his efforts.
“He went and saw my son in Africa and said, ‘I want to do something,'” said Beverly Turner of Spokane, volunteer secretary-treasurer for Uzima.
Her son Steve Turner, 36, an old bandmate of Wescott’s, co-founded Uzima Outreach with a Kenyan partner about five years ago.
“They kept seeing children in the streets,” Beverly Turner said. “The same kids, over and over. So they ended up starting a children’s home.”
The orphanage began in an impoverished section of Nairobi. It’s now housed in a compound in the less crowded outskirts of the city, Beverly Turner said.
While Wescott is walking to raise money for Uzima, his yearslong journey isn’t a program of the nonprofit.
Westcott wants to keep helping his friend’s nonprofit when he completes his journey, but said he’s ready to find a new way to do that.
“You know, the walk is just the first step,” he said.