Saturday, October 18, 2008

10 Year Old Zack Bonner Walking 280 Miles For Homeless

Zach Bonner joined dozens of friends and family Friday morning to stomp out one of the state's most recent growing statistics: homelessness. Bonner's goal is to raise awareness and $35,000 to help shelter at least one family. And he's not stopping until he's reached his goal. Friday, Bonner will begin a 30-day walk to raise $35,000 for those in need by walking from Tallahassee to Atlanta. It's the second straight year Bonner has walked more than 200 miles to raise awareness of homeless kids. Last year, Bonner walked from Tampa to Tallahassee.

"A lot of people look at it as too big of a problem to solve, but I think if we just take one kid at a time, and help just one kid at a time, we can solve the problem," said Zach.

Helping others is nothing new for Bonner. Despite his young age, he's already volunteered more than 2,000 hours. He's also started his own non-profit foundation called the Little Red Wagon Foundation, and he's donated money and items to the victims of Hurricanes Charley and Katrina.

"I think it's just something in him. I think he was just born with it. Different people have different talents and I think this [helping others] is just his talent," said Zach's mom Laurie Bonner.

Zach says he hopes to walk about 10 miles a day and will spend each night in an RV donated by Lazy Days RV Center in Seffner, Florida. You can follow Zach's progress during his walk by clicking his ZACKTRACKER Zach expects to arrive in Atlanta on November 17th, which is also his birthday."You can't really practice too much. I mean, there's no way you're gonna be able to do 280 miles and not get tired," said Bonner.

Zach, his mom Laurie Bonner, and his friend Dylan Danforth pushed forward. "It's really rewarding 'cause you get a really good feeling whenever you know that you can help somebody else," said Bonner. Those words from a 10-year-old, who has a keen sense of direction... at least when it comes to helping others. "At least we can call somebody and tell them to look it up on our website and tell us where we are," said Bonner.

In case you're wondering how this 10-year-old is able to ditch classes for several weeks, he said he's enrolled in a virtual school that allows him to take classes online and on the road.

You Go Zack !!!!

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