Washington, DC – Congressman John L. Mica (FL-07) recently welcomed Mr. John Gillespy to Washington, DC after the Ormond Beach resident walked the 850 miles from his hometown to the nation’s Capital to call attention to the need for the federal government to come together and address significant national problems.

The Wake-Up Walk movement, established by Mr. Gillespy, was conceived to help highlight a handful of critical issues of national importance, such as entitlements, taxation, energy and food & nutrition, and to help alleviate some of the considerable political difficulties in trying to address these issues.

“I was honored to meet with Mr. Gillespy at the end of his long journey,” said Mica.  “His walk to Washington, his passion and concerns underlying his grassroots initiative, and his ideas for making an impact on our gridlocked government and helping the country move forward to a better future are an inspiration.  I believe that as more people hear about John’s experiences, many will feel compelled to get involved in trying to make a difference and making this country a better place for our children and grandchildren.”

Mr. Gillespy’s overall journey totaled nearly 1,000 miles, including the walking he did to train for his quest.  Along the way he met hundreds of people from all walks of life, and found that many of them shared his concern that difficult issues facing the country may continue to go unresolved unless something is done to break the gridlock in Washington.

Mr. Gillespy also took the opportunity to visit various historical sites along the east coast, including locations of key events from the pre-colonial and Civil War periods in American history.  His visits to these sites, places which marked moments when our country struggled and fought to maintain its very existence, provided some parallels in what Mr. Gillespy sees today as a nation too divided by partisanship.

His journey to Washington, and the places and people he visited with helped to strengthen Mr. Gillespy’s resolve to begin a grassroots movement to do something positive and help try to address the nation’s problems.

During his walk, Mr. Gillespy developed the idea to create non-partisan commissions to study a few of the serious issues facing the United States and formulate creative solutions to present to the Congress for an up or down vote, thereby removing much of the political and partisan heat that tends to develop around certain contentious issues.

Mr. Gillespy hopes that others will be encouraged to undertake Wake-Up Walks – their own journeys in a similar effort to help loosen the logjam in Washington.

For further information, John Gillespy can be reached at wakeupwalk@gmail.com.

  PHOTO 1
(Ormond Beach resident, John Gillespy with Son, Alden visit Congressman Mica in his office following his 850 mile walk to Washington.  Alden assisted Dad as navigator and advance logistics throughout the four month journey).

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(Ormond Beach resident, John Gillespy with Congressman Mica in his Rayburn Building office upon his arrival in Washington, D.C.).