Goat across America: How this man is raising money for charity

You’ve probably heard of people trekking across the United States before. Well, this is another story — one with a twist named Miles … a goat.

Steven Wescott is doing his “Needle 2 Square” walk with a goat.

His journey began in 2012 after his band kicked him out. He decided he wanted to take a break from being a professional musician to walk the 3,600 miles from the Seattle Space Needle to Times Square in New York City.

A goat with a purpose

But Steven wanted there to be a purpose to his Needle 2 Square walk. At the time his best friend was serving as a missionary in Nairobi, Kenya working with drug addicts and the children orphaned because of the drug epidemic.

Steven decided his goal would be to raise $100,000 to help his friend make the orphanage self-sufficient with farm animals, a well, and other infrastructure. The walk is a method to do that. The goat was a good way to draw attention to it. Along his journey, he has drawn attention to the cause and encouraged people to donate money to it.

He got his first goat from a rescue organization in Arlington and off they went. In the beginning, they spent most nights camping. As they began to get noticed by the media, more and more often they would be invited to stay in someone’s home.

Having so much time alone on the road gave Steven tons of time to analyze his personality, his actions, and his mistakes.

“Many times on the side of the road, I’ve been calling ex-girlfriends like, ‘Yeah that was my fault. I’m sorry,'” Steven recalled.

Destination known

It’s been four years, and Steven is finally in Maryland just 219 miles from his final destination.

Why so long?

Steven takes the winters off because Miles wouldn’t be able to graze. The breaks also gave Steven time to work a little and raise money for his expenses. And he makes time to do volunteer work in nearly every city he passes through.

There are already people wanting to write a book about Steven’s journey, make a documentary and possibly even a reality TV show. And of course, he’s got a blog.

At first, Steven only posted positive things about his trek. He quickly realized that was giving people a false sense of who he was. He didn’t want to be known as a perfect guy who was dedicating his life to orphans in Africa because that’s not the whole story.

“When you fall from that pedestal, the people that worship you end up crucifying you,” Steven said. “I don’t mind failing in public now. Then you don’t have a culture of worshipers, you have a culture of supporters. So when you make a mistake you have all this support lifting you back up.”

One of the hardships he faced is the loss of his first goat. Steven said someone along the way fed the goat something poisonous. After it passed away, he took some time off to decide whether he would move forward.

Eventually, Steven realized he didn’t want to let his friend down. He found Miles and kept on walking.

Although he’s now just 219 miles from Times Square, Steven doesn’t expect to reach his final destination until October. He has several community service projects and speaking engagements planned along the way.

But, that doesn’t matter. He’s already reached his $100,000 goal and the well at the orphanage is already going in.