A homeless student who lived in his car with just $6 in his pocket managed to secure a place at a top university – and walked 500 miles to get there.
Gordon Wayne, now 20, became homeless when he finished school after his parents split up and there was no room for him to stay with family.
He spent his savings on a car to live in and lived off promotions for free McDonalds food while sleeping in car parks for more than a year.
But hardworking Gordon managed to complete enough community college classes to get a scholarship at university.
With just a few dollars in his pocked he decided to WALK the 500 miles to Boston College to take up his fully funded place, to raise awareness for homelessness.
With a sign on his back saying ‘End Homelessness’ his 16-day plight from Virginia to Massachusetts went viral and he raised $170,000 for a homelessness charity.
Gordon, who is now studying management, said: “I decided to try and help other people out of the situation I was in, but I had no idea what I could do as I didn’t have a lot of money to donate.
“I thought I could bring attention to a cause that is often ignored as well as it being quite symbolic as I was really earning my way to Boston.
“I definitely felt dehumanised and ignored when I was homeless but now I didn’t feel that way anymore I thought the least I could do was try to help others.”
Gordon said his life changed when his parents divorced aged 15, and the family struggled to make ends meet, when child support payments ended when he left school.
He said: “My mum was devastated; she was a stay-at-home mum who didn’t have the money to keep us afloat by herself.”
He moved in with a friend for a week before he spent $2,000 – all the money he had – on a car to live in.
With just $6.25 left from his wages at an amusement park, he had to fix his car up using Youtube videos and had no money for food.
He noticed an old receipt from McDonalds included a freebie meal on the bottom, and lived off the promotions, with the help of vouchers from bins and friends, for months.
“I realised that if I had one of these receipts I could just exchange them for a free burger, and I kept doing that every day!” he said.
“I carried stacks of receipts around like money!”
Gordon ate McDonalds for most meals as he continued earning from his amusement park job for a few months.
He said: “I lost friends as I didn’t have money to do things with them, and because I didn’t have much else to do except go to my job, sleep in my car and eat at McDonalds, I chose to drown myself in my work.
“When people would tease me about my living situation I would just say ‘well, my house is faster than yours!’
“I had to instantly adapt to doing all these adult things that I’d never had to do, but eventually I did get used to everything.”
After a few months, he decided to quit his job to follow his dreams of further education, and enrolled at Germanna Community College in Virginia in August 2019.
Attending a community college earns you an associates degree, usually after two years, allowing you to apply to transfer to a university for a full undergraduate degree.
Gordon said: “I graduated high school with a GPA of almost 4.4 and had already earned some college credit, so I quit my job and concentrated full-time on studying.
“I was really stressed at this point and not sleeping well but I also realised all this was happening to help me grow as a person.”
He took five extra classed to get enough credit to apply to Boston College – which accepts like 8% of their transfer requests.
And against all the odds he was accepted on a scholarship, after they were so impressed by his story.
Boston College offered him a free plane ticket to get to campus – but he made the decision to walk the 551 miles between Caroline County, Virginia and Newton, Massachusetts, and set off on August 12.
He said: “I didn’t train or prepare properly but put together the fundraiser online.
“I spent about $100 on boots, equipment and supplies, and borrowed my Grandpa’s old walking stick which helped with the foot pain!”
“My feet basically became blisters and my back hurt because of the weight of my pack which was rough, but the hardest part was at the beginning when I was still 550 miles away!”
He walked for 15 hours a day, was hit by a car on the way and even had to sleep rough one night when his booked hotel wouldn’t let him check in because he was under 21.
As he travelled, kind strangers offered him food and drink and he eventually gained the attention of the national press, which saw his fundraising total rocket up.
When he arrived onto campus on August 28, Gordon was welcomed with a police escort.
He said: “I only had the weekend and then classes started on Monday!”
He raised $170,000 for the National Alliance to End Homelessness online and it took two months for Gordon’s feet and back to recover.
Even now he finally has a proper roof over his head, Gordon still maintains he doesn’t have any particular plans for the future, because planning “restricts what you think you can do”.
“Knowing this allows me to relax because even though I don’t know what the future holds, I know it’s going to be good,” he said,
“One thing I’m always going to try and do is help people who need help, which I think is the most important thing we can do as people.”
To donate to Gordon’s campaign, visit www.gofundme.com/f/wu2vh-a-cause-i-care-about-needs-help