Walking with a wagon and a message
MISHAWAKA, Ind. – As a journalist, you never know who you’re going to meet on the streets. On Black Friday, ABC 57’s Jess Arnold ran into a South Bend native walking along Cleveland Road with a wagon—and a message.
“Some people are just indignant. They yell at me, and they think something’s wrong with a grown man pulling a wagon…Some people it makes them happy, and they tell me so,” said Michael Scott Goheen, as he walked along Cleveland Road.
Goheen says he bought the wagon on April 6, 2013 to transport his groceries, after he gave away his car to a man who lived across the hall from him.
He says, since then, he’s walked at least 3,000 miles.
With each step comes a story.
“The new La Salle High School was built, and I became a graduate in the first class in 1967,” said Michael.
He says the next year, he joined the army and ended up in Cu Chi, South Vietnam for a year, returning on Mother’s Day 1969.
“I’ll never forget the people, even the ones that didn’t come back…It’s hard to talk about the guys that didn’t come back—the 19 year olds and the 20 year olds,” said Michael, getting choked up.
Since he did come back, Michael says he now walks with a message, a motivation, and a mission.
“[I] put this little message on the back of my wagon for the passersby that believe what I believe: Matthew, the 24th chapter, verses 40 and 41. It speaks of the rapture of the church,” he said.
Michael says his motivation stems from his doctor telling him he would never walk again.
“I’ve been in two horrific motorcycle accidents…and I’ve been hurt badly, and he told me you’re done…and look what God has done for me,” he said.
His mission is to make people smile.
“It’s incredibly rewarding walking out here…I run into people that actually just need somebody to talk to, and sometimes I can give them 15 or 20 minutes of my time and encourage their heart, and they go about their way smiling,” said Michael.