These Shoes Are Made For Walkin'

On Monday, May 11, 11-year-old Zach Bonner will start his journey on a 668 mile walk. He will walk for two months to make it from Atlanta, Georgia to Washington, DC. Why is he doing this? Zach wants to call attention to the problem of homeless kids in this country. There are over 1.3 million homeless kids in the U.S. and Zach wants to help as many as he can. When he gets to D.C. in July he is hoping to meet with President Obama to talk about this serious issue.

Zach's work for homeless families started at age six when he started to collect water and other supplies for the victims of Hurricane Charley. From there he wanted to find even more ways to help people so he began with the issue of homeless kids. Zach started an organization called The Little Red Wagon Foundation which has raised money and held events for those with no homes.

When Zach saw a movie about Mildred Norman, the “Peace Pilgrim,” who walked 25,000 miles during the last 28 years of her life to call attention to her objection to the war, he immediately thought that would be a cool way to get attention for his cause. His first walk was 280 miles from Tampa to Tallahassee followed by another walk a year later from Tallahassee to Atlanta. Each time he raised money for his foundation and called attention to the issue. That's what he hopes to do with this walk.

UPDATE: Zach completed his walk! He made it to Washington, DC where he met with senators and other government officials to discuss the problem of youth homelessness. He was greeted by made folks who followed his journey and companies helped his cause by donating items. Way to go Zach!

Zach Attack

• Check out our interview with Zach.
• See pics of the start of his walk.
• Read Zach's story.
• Philanthropy Project: Exclusive Walkathon Video
• Read letters that kids have sent in for Zach to take to the president.
• Get Philanthropy Project AIM Expressions.

Letters to President Obama
Dear President Obama,
My name is ____________________________, I am ___ years old, and I live in ________________________________. I am in ____ grade at _____________________________ School. Zach Bonner is an 11-year-old boy from Tampa, Florida who is walking 668 miles to see you, and he wants to talk to you about homeless children. There are more than one million kids in the United States who are homeless. Some live in shelters, some on the street. Some live with their families, but all of them need a chance to improve their lives. I hope you can help!

If I were President, I would help homeless kids by…
_____________________________________________________________________

I plan to help people in my community by…
_____________________________________________________________________

I would walk from my house to the White House for…
_____________________________________________________________________________
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
*Please note that your letters may be showcased on KOL. If you do not want it shared please note it in your letter.