Some kids walk to school. Some kids walk for fun. This summer, Zachary Bonner, 12, is walking 2500 miles across America to raise money and awareness for homeless children.
His journey began on March 23 in Tampa (at right) and is expected to end Sept. 14 when he steps onto the Santa Monica Pier in California accompanied by scores of homeless kids.
“He enjoys making other children happy,” says his mom. But it’s a little more complicated—and impressive—than that.
Bonner’s to-do list reads something like this: Start a charity? Check. Raise hundreds of thousands of dollars? Check. Be the subject of a Hollywood biopic? Check. And do this all before most kids have taken middle school algebra? Why, of course, check.
When Tonic caught up with him on July 28, Bonner had just walked 15 miles to Phoenix in 100-degree heat, with a chest cold. Each day, he and his 44-year-old mom, Laurie, usually get up at 3:30 am. to start walking together by 5 to avoid the flaming heat, and usually manage to log 20 to 25 miles before they finish for the day. “We joke that it’s 90 by 9. Today it was like 97 by 10,” says Zach. “Of course, the last couple of days I’ve been sick. It’s harder to walk when you’re sick.”
It all started with a hurricane and a little red wagon — specifically, Hurricane Charley in 2004, which hit his home state of Florida pretty hard; and his Radio Flyer wagon, which the then 6-year-old took around to collect donations of water and supplies for families left homeless by the storm. With his mother’s help, he turned in the donations at a collection and distribution center, and the media, which caught wind of his contributions, dubbed him “the little red wagon boy.” So when he decided to continue his missions of helping youngsters displaced by natural disaster or the economy and inspiring other kids to make a difference, Zach settled on the name the Little Red Wagon Foundation. “We decided to name it the Little Red Wagon Foundation because the name fit with what we were doing. A little red wagon is a symbol of childhood and we’re trying to help kids,” says Zach.
For most kids, a little red wagon is a plaything. For this 12 year old, it’s the cart that holds his hopes for good in the world — specifically for homeless children.
Not His First Walk
Zach’s coast-to-coast journey can be tracked at MarchAcrossAmerica.com, but this walk may not even be the most remarkable thing about Zachary, nor is it even his first walk. In November, 2007, he began a 1,225 mile long “My House to the White House” walk from Tampa to Washington, D.C., completed in three separate legs, ending last summer when he was welcomed at ceremonies in front of the Capitol building (right) by Michael Guillen, the president of Philanthropy Project.
By any measure, Zachary is an unusual kid. He completed the coursework for kindergarten, first and second grade by the time he finished kindergarten. He counts Elton John and President Clinton among his friends. He takes all his coursework online with a state-certified teacher, is usually a grade or two ahead, and this summer, he’s taking Latin for fun, practicing on his mom.
“I was like, ‘Oh, that’s pretty cool.’ I told him, ‘But I don’t know who you’re going to have a conversation with,’” says Laurie.
He’s an adept networker both online (he tweets, texts and blogs) and in person. During his first walk, he happened to meet Elton John, whom he admires for his significant philanthropic work, and he has continued his relationship with the pop performer ever since. In fact, the famed singer/songwriter has promised to donate $50,000 if Zachary makes it all the way to LA. And after learning about the Clinton Foundation by listening to Clinton’s book on tape, he once wrote a letter to the former president, saying, “Hi, I’m Zach. I’m 7. You have a foundation. I have a foundation. Let’s compare notes,” and they did.
“I thought, ‘He’ll never hear back,’ but sure enough, three months later President Clinton was coming down to Orlando for another event and his scheduler called and said he’d like to meet Zach. Then after that, Zach started writing him and telling him what he was doing,” says Laurie.
His skill, intelligence, dedication and keen marketing ideas have helped his charity grow significantly. The Little Red Wagon Foundation mostly provides school supplies, food, clothing and toys to homeless children and for two years, after Hurricane Katrina, he hosted a Christmas party for all the residents of Renaissance Village, the largest FEMA trailer park and home to 2,000 evacuees. One creative fundraising idea is called “24 Hours” and it’s a once-a-year organized event at locations throughout Florida in which children simulate a day as a homeless person, creating their own cardboard box to inhabit for the 24-hour period. In 2008, the organization raised about $53,000 and this year, Laurie says that Zachary has received pledges of cash or in-kind donations of about $120,000 from various sponsors.
“He has such a compassion for others and such a pure heart about it. He doesn’t care if anybody even knows what he’s done. He knows he has to raise awareness but its not about patting himself on the back,” says his mom.
For fun, Zach enjoys playing tennis, swimming in the pool and hanging out with his friends, although many of his friends (people he’s met through his charity work) are in high school or college. And someday, he hopes to go to college himself to pursue a career as a prosecuting attorney.
“It’s my hope that this will always be a part of my life — whether larger or smaller. I hope it will always be a part of my life regardless of my career choice,” says Zach.
And, these days as Zach is making his way across the burning deserts of the southwest, in Charleston, S.C., there is a stage set recreating his life’s story for the film Little Red Wagon that is being directed by David Anspaugh (Rudy, Hoosiers), written by Patrick Sheane Duncan (Mr. Holland’s Opus) and produced by Philanthropy Project, a nonprofit initiative committed to using film to inspire everyone to become a philanthropist. The film is due to be released in 2011.
“It’s pretty exciting because I hope through the movie that it will bring a lot of awareness,” says Zach, “and, in a sense, to inspire other youth to get involved with their community to either start doing something themselves or join somebody else’s effort.”
Photos courtesy of the Philanthropy Project and the Bonner family.