How to be like Armand Young

Before you start walking, set up a Google News Alert for the phrases “walk across the country” and “walking across the country.” Use that little vertical line above the backslash (|) as an “or” operator.

“walk across the country”|”walking across the country”

Right. Like that.

This will lead you to Armand Young. Armand Young has it figured out. Somewhere on the way from Los Angeles to New York, he found a formula: in each town, find someone who needs help and persuade people to give it.

In Marshalltown, he persuaded “the Marshalltown community” to rent an apartment for a homeless woman. In Dubuque, he talked a business owner into donating two months’ rent for a family of four.

News outlets seem a little confused about how to handle Young. After all, he’s not the one handing out money. In the Marshalltown Times-Republican’s article about the result of his work there, here’s how they put it:

The idea of getting her a place to live came about from Armand Young, who is walking across the country helping people out.

We’re all a little crazy, and Young might also be crazy in one or two bonus ways. But John VanDyk, an Ames blogger who met Young at church, puts it well:

What did Armand do during his stay here? He connected needs to resources and was courageous enough to ask people to care. Is he for real? Did he suddenly show up at our church this morning because the sermon topic was Finding God in the Unexpected? I don’t know. I do know that because of Armand Young, someone without a home will have one for the next year.

According to the comments he’s placed on the thread beneath his YouTube video introduction, Young was in Rockford, Ill., in early April. That puts him two days out of Chicago, by his calculations. If he’s on Oprah tomorrow, you heard it here first.