10-year-old walks 17 miles, raises $6,000 for homes in Haiti

On a television news show one day, Malcolm Mitchell saw the hundreds of thousands of tents spreading across the Haitian countryside, where survivors are now forced to live after a 7.0 earthquake wracked the city of Port-au-Prince, leaving more than 220,000 people dead and more than 300,000 injured.

Shocked by the living conditions, the 10-year-old, a small boy with bright green eyes and blonde hair, decided he wanted to help.

He brainstormed a plan with his mother to raise money for an organization working to build new homes in Haiti for people displaced by the disaster. The two created a website, dubbed Malcolm’s House for Haiti, where people could donate directly to Heartline Ministries, and Mitchell pledged to walk 17 miles for the cause, from Brownsville to the lighthouse at Port Isabel.

Mitchell aimed to raise $3,000 for one wooden home. On Saturday, he walked the distance he promised and surpassed that goal, reaching more than $6,000.

"I saw all the houses were destroyed," he said that afternoon, taking a break for lunch after walking 8½ miles. "I wanted to do something."

Lisa Mitchell, his mother, said the family had recently built a chicken coop in their backyard in Brownsville. Her son realized the chicken coop provided better shelter than the tents in Haiti.

"I think he is doing it for a good reason," she said.

Mitchell’s mother, father, siblings and friends took turns accompanying him along the way. He started his trek near 7 a.m. and reached the lighthouse about 3 p.m., where more than a dozen of his friends and family members, including the cheerleaders of Episcopal Day School, cheered him on.

The journey was difficult, he said, but well worth it.

"Even if you are my age, you can do something," he said at the end of his walk.