Cody Anderson, a United Methodist from Mineral Bluff, GA has embraced many causes to help raise awareness for over thirty years. Some of his efforts include walking across the United States, twice. His support efforts have provided the catalyst for raising over half a million dollars throughout his lifetime of service.

Anderson’s efforts, which have benefited local food banks and children’s hospitals, have earned him the keys to more than 60 cities across the United States. He has received letters of commendation from former Prime Minister of Great Britain Tony Blair and President George W. Bush. He has also been featured on TV shows such as “That’s Incredible” and “60 Minutes.”

This summer, Anderson spent four-and-a-half-weeks walking back and forth from the U.S. Capitol to the White House to raise awareness about the troops and encourage people to donate phone cards for them.

The best way to show deployed troops you care, says Anderson, is to send them prepaid international phone cards so they can call home to their friends and loved ones.

So six days a week – from 9 each morning to 5 at night — he walked nonstop, through rain, blazing heat, aching legs and even on his birthday, July 4. On Saturdays, he broadened his loop to include the various war memorials flanking the Potomac River. On Sundays, he took a break to attend church and rest his weary bones. Anderson estimates he walked over 900 miles.

“I love doing this,” he said. “We owe our troops so much for what they do for us.”

As he conducted his Washington walk, Anderson already had his sights set on his next one: between Atlanta and Fort Benning, Ga. To read more details about the 2009 DCWalkathon, and how to contribute phone-cards through Anderson’s organization, Operation SOS, click here.

“I’m going to keep doing whatever I can to get phone cards to the troops,” he said. “I’m still at it, working hard.”

To see pictures from Cody Anderson’s walk, click here. To read more about him, click here and here.

Read chaplains comment about receiving phone cards here. Go to Military OneSource for more information on donating prepaid phone cards for our troops.

Tags: Cody Anderson, DC, donate, donation, Operation SOS, phone cards, support, United Methodist, walk, Washington

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 13th, 2009 at 12:13 pm and is filed under Active Duty, Chaplains, Families, National Guard, News, Parents, Reserves, Spouses. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.