Just before noon last Friday, I hit record on my podcast mixer and kicked off a 24-hour live broadcast of Let’s Start Healing, with guests joining me for nearly the entire journey.
I’ve always been drawn to endurance challenges, but this one carried a deeper purpose. I chose to hold the podcast marathon on Sept. 19, my late mother’s birthday, as a way to honor her and channel the day into a way of helping people in need. I decided to pair the challenge with a fundraiser for Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice — raising both dollars and awareness for their mission in helping underserved families.
Georgia Appleseed works on reforms to ensure safe, secure housing for children and to bring equity and fairness into Georgia schools. This year, I learned that a large number of children are living with their families in extended-stay hotels. There were 50 children living in a Roswell hotel that was shuttered last May due to unsafe and unsanitary conditions.
Executive Director Michael Waller, who joined the marathon podcast, shared that there are an estimated 46,000 homeless children in the state of Georgia; 12,000 in metro Atlanta.
Extended-stay hotels often become the only option for families who can’t afford the upfront costs of renting an apartment, such as security deposits and application fees. From there, some families move from hotel rooms to cars or the street.
On the same day as the live 24-hour podcast episode, Atlanta Civic Circle published a series of stories on the issue, including one headlined “The Extended Stay Trap.” That reporting drew on 31 interviews that Georgia Appleseed conducted with families in Clayton County, highlighting how easily they can become trapped in extended-stay housing without a clear path forward.
The Atlanta Civic Circle report cited Clayton County Public Schools Homeless Education Department, stating there are 2,000 unhoused students, including more than 700 living in extended stay hotels.
In this clip above, Michael Waller, executive director of Georgia Appleseed Center for Law & Justice, shares how the nonprofit advocates for underserved children in schools.
By the end of the 24-hour live podcast, just over $600 had been raised in donations for Georgia Appleseed. While the dollar amount is only one measure, the real success was amplifying the organization’s voice and mission to listeners across Atlanta, the U.S., and even the world. Guests joined from Virginia, New York, Colorado, and Florida, as well as Canada, Portugal, and Thailand. Conversations ranged from fatherhood to life-changing experiences, all while weaving in the podcast’s core theme of spirituality.
The support was tangible not only through donations, but through presence. Friends and family stopped by my home, others joined online, and commenters kept me going even during the overnight hours. At one point, from 3 to 4 a.m., when I had a guest gap, people chimed in just to keep me awake. I had intentionally set aside the final hour, between 11 a.m. and noon Saturday, to speak solo with listeners. But instead, it became a shared moment of encouragement. The comment feed lit up with messages that felt like the sidelines of a marathon of runners: “You’re doing great! You’ve got this!”
Even during the final stretch, Waller sent an email calling the effort “heroic.”
And I did make it. By the end, both me and the listeners needed sleep, but the effort was all for a good cause — to honor my mother, to challenge myself, and most of all, to spotlight the work of Georgia Appleseed and the needs of the children and families that they serve.
