This fall, Jason Lennox will embark on a 307-mile walk through Appalachia, traveling from Williamson, West Virginia, to Nashville, Tennessee. His goal is to raise $307,000 to support mental health and addiction programs.
“Three-hundred-and-seven-thousand people. That’s how many people we lost in our country alone last year to drugs, alcohol and suicide,” Lennox said.
Walking 15 to 25 miles daily for three weeks, Lennox’s mission honors both lives lost and those still struggling with addiction and mental health challenges.
Lennox’s journey is deeply personal. He began struggling with substance use at age 12, progressing from alcohol and cigarettes to marijuana, prescription drugs, and harder substances. By his early 20s, he was facing legal trouble and battling addiction and mental illness, culminating in a near-fatal overdose while in a group home.
Recovery became a turning point after his grandmother, who had tried to help him, passed away.
“I’m either running out of here and going back to the old life, which is going to not end well, or I’m going to do everything I can in the honor to try and to make up for these things that I’ve done and live this kind of life for my grandma,” Lennox said.
Today, Lennox is a business owner, speaker, and founder of The Recovery Road campaign. He invites others to join him in logging miles toward his fundraising goal:
“We can get 307,000 miles and then a dollar for each mile to raise $307,000 to build programs within high-need, under-resourced areas,” he said.
He also shared a message for those struggling:
“I always say just hang on for one more day. The difference between the end of a really bad journey and the beginning of a really good journey is 24 hours.”
Lennox’s walk begins on September 29. Supporters can donate or pre-register to walk and log their miles online.
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