With his dream of meeting with famous talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres now out of the way, Zach Hofer is set to launch Zach Makes Tracks 2.0 and raise even more money for youth mental health.
The 15-year-old Barrie resident made headlines in 2017 when he biked from here to Ottawa in 29 days to raise money and awareness for youth mental health.
Zach’s mother, Shelley Hofer, told BarrieToday that her son getting to meet DeGeneres this past Sunday was a dream come true for him, but he is anxious to get to work.
“We had been trying for a long time to have Zach meet Ellen, and when she came to Toronto for her A Conversation With Ellen DeGeneres show, it all lined up,” she said. “He has loved Ellen for years and we watch her because of her positivity, humour and, of course, how she is always helping people.”
Zach is on a trip out of the country, but the Zach Makes Tracks team is now preparing to have everything ready for the next phase of the fundraising campaign.
With 2.2 million youth in Canada between the ages of 13 and 19, Shelley Hofer said that it's the goal of Zach Makes Tracks to get that many pledges.
“When Zach started his campaign to bike from Barrie to Ottawa in 2017, the goal was $10,000 and to date Zach Makes Tracks has raised $126,000,” she said. “The idea for 2.0 is to give the youth a voice, to let them know that people are listening and that you as youth can make things happen.”
Starting Friday, March 8, Zach Makes Tracks is asking youth in Canada to start their pledge collecting and on May 7, to join Zach in the activity they chose to pledge for and raise as much money as they can without any pressure to raise more than even a dollar.
“If every teen raised $1, that’s $2.2 million, and that would be impressive,” Shelley Hofer said. “It doesn’t matter what it is you want to do, running, walking, dancing, it doesn’t matter just do something and collect for pledges for it.”
While some of the money will go to Barrie's Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre, a big portion will assist the Slaight Family Centre for Youth in Transition at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, while also helping local communities and their youth mental-health services in each of Canada’s provinces and territories.
“We were all so impressed how much our city helped Zach on his quest in 2017 and how much it helped locally,” she said. “Barrie has a great eight-bed inpatient mental-health unit now; if we can help other communities get the help they need, it will be a massive success.”
You can head to the updated Zach Makes Tracks website for more information on how to get involved in the new campaign.
