Walking Towards a Better Cape Cod

The Waystacks brave heavy rains during last year’s Bob Murray Housing with Love Walk.

Last summer, Bernadette and Richard Waystack walked one end of the Cape to the other, over the course of seven days, enduring everything from blisters, sore muscles and even stress fractures, all to raise awareness about the housing issues facing the region.

So when asked to participate in the Bob Murray Housing with Love Walk again, the Waystacks didn’t hesitate, emphatically saying yes. Why? “Homelessness has not gone away,” Bernadette said. “My husband, who was the past president of The Family Pantry of Cape Cod in Harwich, once coined the phrase that, ‘Hunger doesn’t take a vacation on Cape Cod.’ Guess what? Homelessness doesn’t either.”

This July, the Harwich couple will be walking in the annual event on behalf of HAC, raising funds for the nonprofit’s services which includes its four homeless shelters, homelessness prevention programs, affordable housing development and housing education workshops.

The pair’s motivation goes beyond simple charitableness. They have a personal connection to the type of work HAC is doing because they have witnessed the impacts homelessness has had on a family member. That is why, when Richard ended up with stress fractures during last year’s walk, he refused to give up.

“You know it’s uncomfortable and hard, but you’re only doing it for one day and every night you get to go home to a nice, safe and secure home,” said Bernadette, who is an art teacher at Monomoy Regional High School. “I thought about the people in my hometown and across the Cape where that isn’t the case. Some of them aren’t going home to a house. Some are out in the streets or in the woods. Some have a home, but it’s not stable and they’re not sure how long they’ll have it.”

So next month the Waystacks will lace up their sneakers, taking small steps to help make Cape Cod a better place for all to live. They realize they will not solve the problem on their own. Instead their ultimate goal is progress.

“I think it’s a greater sense of wanting to make a difference,” Bernadette said. “You can’t fix it all, but if everyone does a little something, we’re going to make a change.”