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When Zach was 6 years old, Hurricane Charley struck near his home in Tampa, Florida. One day while listening to the radio, he heard a report about the devastating effects of the hurricane. He turned to his sister and said he wanted to help. That evening, they made flyers asking people to donate food, water and extra supplies, telling them that he would come and collect the donations the next day.
The following day, Zach walked around his neighbourhood towing his little red wagon in which he collected donations. The day was such a success that Zach continued for four whole months, until donations were no longer needed. In those four months he collected enough donations to fill his mother’s pickup truck 27 times. When it was over, Zach realised how much he loved the feeling of helping others and decided to do more.
Zach decided to put all the walking training he had done to good use, by doing a 280-mile leg of a walk from his house in Tampa. This later turned into an even longer walk, all the way to the White House. The goal was to raise awareness and money for homeless children. Throughout his walk, he stopped and talked to people about homeless children, urging them to help in any way they could.
When he got back, he decided to use his donation collection skills to put together goodie backpacks for homeless kids, known as Zach-packs. In each backpack, Zach put a food pack, personal hygiene kit, first aid kit, a toy and a candy pack. He distributed over 6,000 Zach-packs to homeless children in America. Zach continues to help people in so many ways, taking each day at a time. He says, ‘All you have to do is think, how can I make one person smile today.’
