Kohl's Fetes Little Red Wagon Teen For Helping Homeless Kids

The Valrico teen who made national headlines with his efforts to help homeless children is among the winners of the Kohl’s Cares Scholarship Program.

Kohl’s Department Stores will recognize Zach Bonner, founder of the Little Red Wagon Foundation, along with more than 2,300 other young volunteers nationwide who have made a positive impact in their communities through volunteerism. 

One hundred seven youth from Florida will each receive a $50 gift card and recognition certificate from Kohl’s to honor their community service efforts.
These winners qualify for the chance to receive a $1,000 regional scholarship for higher education, which Kohl’s will award in July. Of the nearly 200 regional winners, 10 national winners will each receive a total of $10,000 in scholarships, and Kohl’s will donate $1,000 to a nonprofit organization on each national winner’s behalf. 

In total this year, Kohl’s will recognize more than 2,300 young volunteers with more than $400,000 in scholarships and prizes.

This is Kohl’s 13th year of rewarding remarkable young volunteers. Since the program began in 2001, Kohl’s has recognized more than 19,000 kids, including the 2013 winners, with more than $3.9 million in scholarships and prizes. 

Now 16 years old, Bonner's social outreach began at age 7 when he used his well-loved toy wagon to collect water and supplies in Tampa for victims of the 2004 Hurricane Charley. 

A year later, he formed the Little Red Wagon Foundation to help Tampa's homeless children.

He continues to aid underprivileged children through his foundation, which has distributed more than 4,000 backpacks (Zach Packs) across the country to homeless youth full of food, personal hygiene kits and other supplies. Bonner also includes a candy pack and small toy in each backpack to show the kids he is helping that he cares about their kid needs as well as their basic needs.

In addition, the Little Red Wagon Foundation has hosted holiday parties for homeless youth, victims of natural disasters, unwed mothers (under 21), emergency foster care kids, domestic violence shelters and others since 2006.

Bonner also has distributed more than 2,000 books to Title 1 (low-income) schools, students, migrant farmers and programs that serve them. Another 450 books have been distributed to homeless youth and foster kids.

He's donated new sports equipment to programs serving homeless youth and foster kids affected by natural disasters.

And he's hosted 23 parties for homelss youth at Build A Bear, Chuck E Cheese, Six Flags Amusement Parks, Putt Putt and other venues.

For the past five years, Bonner, with the help of other socially conscious youth, also has organized 24-hour events, sleeping outdoors in cardboard boxes to raise funds, awareness and supplies for homeless youth.

The determined youth gained national attention for his efforts when he walked more than 4,263 miles, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, to raise awareness of the plight of homeless youth.

Bonner's philanthropic efforts attracted the attention of Hollywood director David Anspaugh, whose film credits include "Hoosiers" and "Rudy."

Anspaugh subsequently made the film, "Little Red Wagon,"  based on Bonner's volunteer efforts. In the movie, Chandler Canterbury plays Bonner. The film also stars Anna Gunn, Daveigh Chase and Frances O'Connor. 

Never idle for long, Bonner is currently collecting towels and school supplies for a camp in Los Angeles for home youth. He's seeking help sorting supplies and placing them in backpacks. 

"We have a goal of 300. We can do more, though," said Bonner.

Bonner also plans to put together holiday backpacks for kids with school supplies and new small toys. 

"I need 500 Silly Puttys, 500 Slinky toys and the funding to pay for 800 yo-yos that will go into both sets of backpacks," said Bonner. "Thanks to Office Depot ,we have the LA sackpacks so I just need to raise $2,000 to pay for the holiday backpacks. If you are interested in helping on either, just let me know."

To donate or volunteer, visit the Little Red Wagon website, call Bonner at 813-495-1813, email Zachsredwagon@aol.com or send checks to Little Red Wagon Foundation Inc., PO Box 2532, Valrico, FL 33595.