'Walk the Walk' Helps Poorest of Poor

Helping the poorest of the poor, those who may not have shoes or clothes that fit, is how the Walk the Walk Foundation got its start back in 2004, thanks to a note folded into a Christmas card by Kim and David Mitchell of Severna Park. The couple asked for donations to help 60 children of Mercer County, WV, have a Christmas. The response was overwhelming.

“Everyone likes to give at Christmas,” Kim Mitchell said.

She added that the need was made clear by stories of a combined family of 11 living in a trailer, a mother who had no shoes to wear to a school conference and young boys who wore their sister’s hand-me-downs to school.

These snapshots of depressed economic conditions came from Mitchell’s aunt, Evelyn Linkous, a former principal at the Lashmeet/Matoaka School in Mercer County, Mitchell’s parents’s hometown. Linkous, now retired, knew plenty of school families in need of everyday essentials like groceries, clothes, shoes and comforters for their beds.   

“It was a huge success,” Kim Mitchell said of the first Christmas collection. The initial drive marked the beginning of what was to become the faith-based Walk the Walk Foundation.

The foundation's focus is on three programs: Walk of Christmas, Back to School and a Traveling Trailer. Despite closing their 70-year-old family asphalt business in September, the couple, which have four children, continue their philanthropic work.

“Our prayer is to close every door except the one God wants us to walk through,” Kim Mitchell said.

From the start, teaching their four children, ages 12 to 19, that there are people in need and to give back, remains in the forefront. 

As part of the downsizing, the couple sold their tractor-trailer used to deliver clothing and school supplies each August to Mercer County. This setback isn't stopping them from continuing their work, said Mitchell. They will be revamping their plans this spring, Mitchell said.

Since Linkous retired, the distribution center for school supplies moved from the school to the Family Life Center at Maple View Church of Christ, in Bluesfield, WV. 

“[Walk the Walk] has really pulled together the community, the church and the schools,” Linkous said. “We just get a lot of positive feedback.”

The scope of the foundation’s outreach expanded from Mercer County to include helping families locally through Serving People Across Neighborhoods (SPAN) based in Severna Park, the Light House shelter in Annapolis, and rural areas of Chestertown.  

With the help of 285 donors, the nonprofit helped 295 children from 109 families this Christmas. About 75 volunteers helped assemble bikes in her garage, Mitchell said.

Each October, emails are sent asking for donations and Kim Mitchell said the house looks like "Santa’s workshop" by December with people coming to build bikes, including teenagers who are paired with younger children to provide a teachable moment and mentorship.

“Presents are dropped off at the house and it’s like dumping out a 10,000-piece puzzle and then we start putting it together,” Kim Mitchell said.  

Gift bags with signed Christmas cards are prepared for every family and tucked inside with a disposable camera for them to take pictures of themselves to share with the donors.

“You have a responsibility to give back,” Kim Mitchell said. “We named it [the foundation] after a Bible verse, Joshua 22:5.”

Walk the Walk partners with other nonprofits and has found the circle of giving is wide in Severna Park. When the couple came upon 2,000 pairs of free flip-flops from a friend’s former business, they gave them to the Giving Back, Linda’s Legacy Holiday Homeless Drive to be included in the backpacks for the homeless.

“Every year, we also give them whatever we have in way of clothing, toys, books,” she said.  

Another sharing opportunity came from a church in Virginia that needed flip-flops for a mission trip to a Haiti orphanage. The Mitchells gave 200 pairs and, in return, the church gave them 100 Bibles to send to Walk The Walk-sponsored families.

Visit www.wtwf.org for more information on how you can help.