Hands Across America: May 25, 1986

Yeah, I was there. It was a feel good thing to do.

On Sunday, May 25, 1986 approximately 6.5 million people held hands to form a human change from Battery Park in New York City to the RMS Queen Mary pier in Long Beach, California. The line stretched some 4,152 miles and the event rasied $34 million that was donated to local charities to fight hunger and homelessness.

I was on the National Mall in Washington, DC with Coretta Scott King standing at the Lincoln. President Reagan was at the White House. Speaker Tip O’Neill at the Capitol.

It didn’t end hunger or homelessness, but it did help raise some awareness.

And for a few minutes on a sunny, at least in DC, Sunday afternoon, we felt like we were doing something about it.

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