11-Year-Old Zach Bonner Walks to the White House to Help Homeless Kids

After Hurricane Charlie devastated Florida in 2004, many homes in the state were blown apart, leaving entire families without shelter. Zach Bonner, of Tampa, was only six years old at the time—but he was touched by the suffering he saw around him, and decided he needed to step in to help. He began doing volunteer work in the community that year by collecting tarps, water, and other supplies for families in need, and, in the years since, his desire to give and help others has only grown.

In 2005, Zach founded his own nonprofit organization, The Little Red Wagon Foundation . Zach uses the organization to help homeless children by filling backpacks with food and other necessities, and distributing them to needy kids all across the country, in addition to a variety of other efforts to provide school supplies and food to children who have very little of their own. For three years now, Zach has hosted a unique fundraising event, 24 Hours, an all-night party in which children are invited to help assemble more than 400 backpacks to be distributed to homeless kids throughout the United States. Raise money for this nonprofit and other nonprofits.

But even though he was already helping thousands of homeless children through his nonprofit work, Zach wanted to make an even bigger impact. So he’s started walking for the cause: In 2007, he walked with his mother from Tampa to Tallahassee to raise money and awareness for homeless children, followed by a 2008 trek from Tallahassee to Alabama, raising over $42,000 along the way.

Now, he’s decided to amp up his walking adventure: This year, Zach is traveling 668 miles by foot, from Atlanta all the way to the steps of the White House, bearing hundreds of letters from children across the country about their desires for the country, which he plans to give to President Obama. With his mother, he walks between 11 and 13 miles each day, sleeping in a donated RV. Though he’s only completed a portion of the walk, it seems as though it will soon become his biggest fundraiser ever: he’s already collected more than $35,000 for his charity.

Most kids Zach’s age are more concerned with cartoons and comic books than philanthropy, but for 11-year-old Zach, there’s nothing in the world more important than helping the country’s 1.5 million homeless youth.

"These kids don't have a home, they don't have a safe place to sleep at night," he told USA Today . "They're out on the streets not because they want to be, but because it's out of their control."

How you can help : If you have a child who’d like to write a letter to the President for Zach to pass along, the message can be emailed to him at letterstopres@aol.com . To help this remarkable boy solve America’s homelessness problem, make a donation to his Little Red Wagon Foundation or his partner organizations, Rainbow Village and the Georgia Coalition to End Homelessness , through Razoo.

By Kathryn Hawkins