Lawton “Bud” Chiles, President of The Lawton Chiles Foundation, is carrying on a family tradition of walking. He’s following in the footsteps of his father, former Florida Governor “Walkin” Lawton” Chiles, by taking “One Million Steps for Florida’s Kids.” Chiles will be on the New College of Florida campus on Thursday, April 22, from 2:30 to 3:30 to meet with students and faculty to discuss his initiative. As part of the visit, he will lead a symbolic walk from the Hamilton Center to the College Hall bay front. All members of the New College community, as well as the general public, are invited to attend. The talk and walk begin at 2:30 in front of the Hamilton Center.
The walk is part of Chiles’ Worst to First Campaign to raise awareness about the need to fund quality education and health care for children around our state. According to NEA statistics listed on Chiles’ Worst to First Campaign website, Florida currently ranks 50th in the nation when it comes to per capita spending on education for its children.
To raise awareness about such shortcomings in state funding for education, Chiles is walking one million steps – nearly 600 miles – in communities around Florida to collect pledges in support of the Worst to First Campaign.
Walking hundreds of miles on Florida roads is nothing new to the Chiles family – Bud’s father, Gov. Chiles, walked more than 1,000 miles across Florida in 1970 during his underdog campaign for the U.S. Senate. One Million Steps for Florida’s Kids started in Century, Florida, on September 20, 2009, honoring the historic walk of Gov. Chiles.
Bud has already walked more than 240 miles, or 420,000 steps – in towns, cities and counties across Florida, including Century, Pensacola, Pace, Floridale, Midway, Chattahoochee, Sneads, Marianna, Perry, Lake City, St. Augustine, Jacksonville, Gainesville, Ocala, Dade City, Daytona Beach, DeLand, Orlando, Kissimmee, Lakeland, Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale and Miami.
This will be his first visit to the Sarasota-Bradenton area as part of his campaign.
For more information, contact Geoff Chiles, [email protected], (407) 902-8302. Questions may also be directed to the New College Office of Public Affairs at [email protected], (941) 487-4150.