People

By Sara C. Medina.

It was an idea just as broad and almost as hyperbolic as America. On Sunday afternoon of Memorial Day weekend, nearly 5 1/2 million people joined hands along a 4,152-mile line across the country to raise funds--and consciousness --for fighting hunger and homelessness in the U.S. Participants linked up for 15 minutes and sang We Are the World, the Hands Across America theme and America the Beautiful, joyfully celebrating the day and the togetherness "from sea to shining sea."

Strictly speaking, it was not Hands all the way Across America. There were wide gaps in many spots outside the celebrity-studded cities, even though toward the end, organizers relaxed their requirement of a prior pledge in order to swell the ranks. Some $20 million in contributions had been promised by handholding time, and though it will be weeks before the gifts can be totaled, officials still hope for their $50 million goal.

For all the comparative hype and hugeness of Hands, it worked largely through the many small decisions to join in. The tingle of an unbroken cross- continental touch may have been missed, but along the way there was much to find touching. Following the plan of Organizer Ken Kragen, who had also headed the USA for Africa campaign, the line began and ended with homeless people. In New York City's Battery Park was Amy Sherwood, 6, who until last month had been living with her mother and two sisters in a Manhattan welfare hotel. Little Amy also came to symbolize opportunity: she has signed a talent- agency contract that may soon bring her wide smile and pigtails to TV commercials.

From Amy, 200,000 New Yorkers, nine deep in some places, wound up Manhattan's West Side and over the George Washington Bridge to New Jersey. A 50-yd. stretch near Newark threatened to be the first gap, but at the last minute people in line stopped a commuter bus; the 40-plus passengers all cheerfully piled out to fill the hole. The first breaks developed in Pennsylvania, but the line wound south to Washington, where it was routed through the White House. Persuaded at the last minute by his daughter Maureen to take part, President Reagan stood somewhat stiffly among staff members' children and friends, using a crib sheet for some lyrics but needing no help for a flawless rendition of America the Beautiful--both verses. (Across from the White House, protesters demonstrated against the President's policies toward the homeless.)

As the line looped back up toward Chicago, seals and killer whales joined in at Cleveland's Sea World, but the absence of humans became increasingly noticeable. Tinny portable-radio broadcasts of the music got little response from clumps of handholders. "Is it over yet?" many asked.

In the rolling country on both sides of the Mississippi, a low-key picnic atmosphere was typical in many spots, with impromptu bluegrass or pop concerts. In Memphis even Elvis joined up as one fan grabbed the hand of his statue and another his leg. In the farm town of Lonoke, Ark., the throng that had gathered unashamedly shouted out "I love America!" on cue.

Often little knots of people at highway interchanges formed a symbolic presence, but hardly anyone regretted showing up. "It was worth it," said John Peller in Dallas. "It was over fast, but I'm glad I came." Singers Kenny Rogers and Lee Greenwood drew a crowd of 8,000 at the Texas-New Mexico border, and I-40 near Albuquerque had its biggest traffic jam in years. After some long, unpopulated stretches of California desert, a crowd of 6,000 gathered near the Long Beach pier. At the end of a string of celebrities was Unemployed Shelter Resident Bill Jones with his wife Mary and their five children.

Kragen dismissed those calling Hands Across America "a quick-fix spectacle." It is a beginning, he argues. "I don't want to look back in five years and say, 'Gee, remember when we stood in line?' I want to look back and say that was when everybody got together and decided once and for all to do something about hunger and homelessness."

Outside the U.S. on the same day, Hands Across America was dwarfed by Sport Aid, the latest campaign for African famine relief by British Rock Star Bob Geldof, of Band Aid and Live Aid fame. Sport Aid, cosponsored by the United Nations Children's Fund, attracted 20 million in 78 countries to 10-km "races against time" and other events, leading to as much as $150 million in pledges.

Sudanese Runner Omar Khalifa was the centerpiece of the activities, carrying a torch first lighted in a refugee camp in his home country, through twelve European capitals in eight days, and meeting with royalty and heads of state. Finishing at United Nations headquarters just before that body began a special session on Africa, Khalifa lit a symbolic flame to set off synchronized runs around the world. Sizable crowds turned out in Paris, Warsaw, Budapest; more than 200,000, including Geldof, took part in London. Thailand's Prime Minister and the President of the African state of Burkina Faso, with his entire Cabinet, joined the throngs.

Competing with the better-publicized Hands happening, however, Sport Aid drew thin crowds in the U.S.: only 4,000 runners took part in New York City's race. Said Geldof, summing up the two megaevents: "We talk about Africa; they talk about America. But it's the same thing. We are raising money on the same day against hunger and poverty."

With reporting by Cathy Booth/New York and Richard Woodbury/Los Angeles, with other bureaus