Woman starts cross-country journey to help elderly & caregivers | News

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NC (WECT) - On Sunday morning, Teri Swezey started her journey that will take her to the other side of the country. She's walking from Wrightsville Beach to Cambria, Calif. on behalf of the elderly and their caregivers.

It's called SOAR Feat 2012. SOAR stands for seniors obtaining assistance and resources.

Swezey said she took care of her mother for the last three years of her life when her mother was suffering from late stage dementia.

"It was that experience of caring for her that inspired me to do the walk," Swezey said.

She's trying to raise $180,000 for relief for caregivers, help for seniors with prescription co-pays, and to help low income meal programs.

Swezey said she chose to walk the more than 2,700 mile journey to Cambria because her parents live where and it's now their final resting place.

"We're really going from coast to coast. My mother loved Wrightsville Beach and they lived in Cambria so it's a coast to coast walk and going home," she said.

The journey will take her about 6 months to complete. She'll sleep in a trailer until she reaches her final destination. The trailer features a logo based on a photo of Swezey's mother doing a swan dive from the 1940s.

"I was inspired by the words of somebody who started and went the other direction. He started in California and he came to Emerald Isle and he was in his late 60s, I believe and he said, ‘life is pretty good at 3 miles per hour.' So, that's my motto," she said.

Swezey started a website, a Facebook page and a Twitter page that will keep a record of her trip.

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