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Boy's Walk Highlights Kids Without Homes

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By CATHERINE DOLINSKI, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 27, 2007

Updated: 11/27/2007 09:12 am

TALLAHASSEE - Zach Bonner showed no sign of fatigue Monday morning as he spoke on the steps of the old state Capitol, the end point of his 280-mile march from Seffner. The Valrico fourth-grader started walking to Tallahassee on Nov. 3 to raise awareness of youth homelessness.

"The hardest part was whenever it was pouring down rain," said Zach, who turned 10 during his walk on Nov. 17. "I just put on my rain suit and kept walking through it."

Zach arrived in Tallahassee last week with his mother, Laurie, in time to have Thanksgiving dinner at a restaurant with members of the Big Bend Homeless Coalition. Zach and his mother walked the final mile down Apalachee Parkway to the steps of the old Capitol at 8:30 a.m. Monday with Zach's 20-year-old sister, Kelley, and a group of volunteers.

Zach got the idea for his walk about a year ago after watching a documentary about Mildred Norman Ryder, the "Peace Pilgrim" who walked more than 25,000 miles for nearly three decades. But it was a resolution that Congress passed in August, declaring November as National Homeless Youth Awareness Month, that persuaded Zach to undertake his project.

When he first announced his plans to his family, "I thought he was crazy," said his mother, who walked nearly the entire way with her son. "That's a long way to go. It was about 13 miles a day. ... He said, 'I've got to do something big.' Originally, he said he was going to go from Fort Lauderdale to Tallahassee. I said, 'Well, maybe Tampa to Tallahassee might be a little easier.'"

Zach's project raised not only awareness of youth homelessness, but also roughly $25,000 in donations and supplies. Corporate sponsors provided meals and other resources for Zach and his chaperones, who spent nights in a donated RV.

A student of the online Florida Virtual Academy, Zach was able to study ahead and do assignments intermittently on the road to avoid missing schoolwork. He kept a blog at www.zachtracker.com.

"Here we have a 9-, 10-year-old kid who's giving up his birthday, Thanksgiving at home, to bring awareness to this issue: It's pretty amazing, don't you think?" said Kay Freeman, executive director of the Big Bend Homeless Coalition. "It says that America's dirty little secret about homelessness isn't such a secret anymore."

Florida has 33,155 homeless youth, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, which reports there are more than 1 million homeless youth nationwide.

Zach's homelessness walk is neither his first nor last charitable project. He began volunteering at age 6, collecting donations of food and other supplies after Hurricane Charley. Last year, he organized a holiday party in Louisiana for child victims of Hurricane Katrina. Zach plans, he said, to repeat the event next month.

Zach has already received accolades from President Bush, former President Clinton and former Gov. Jeb Bush for his charity efforts. On Monday, Zach and his mother stopped by Gov. Charlie Crist's office, where Bonner asked whether he could meet the governor. He was informed that Crist was out of town.

On his way out, Bonner asked Crist's aide to pencil him in for a meeting next Nov. 1, when he plans to walk from Tallahassee to Atlanta for Habitat for Humanity. "I'm going to raise enough money to build a house," he said.

"He's my hero," Freeman said.

Reporter Catherine Dolinski can be reached at cdolinski@tampatrib.com or (850) 222-8382

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