Barefoot runner stops in Athens on $100M trek

In an effort to raise $100 million for homeless youth in America, Tellman Knudson is aiming to be the first known person to ever run across the country barefoot.

Due to a foot injury, Knudson stopped in Athens over the weekend while taking a brief hiatus from his journey from New York City to the Santa Monica, Calif., Pier, which he had planned to accomplish in 99 days after leaving New York City on Sept. 9.

Although Knudson said that he and his crew are behind schedule, he stated that the reason he "decided on 99 days was because it was the most aggressive goal that was at all attainable." He now hopes to reach the California coast in the next four months.

Tellman said that he's been taking a two-week hiatus from his barefoot run because he has deep-tissue heel contusions and the doctor told him to stop running so he could heal. His goal was to run 34 miles a day so he could make it in 99 days but he admitted that he has never reached that.

When he starts running again, he said he hopes to start with 10 miles a day and then add a mile every three days and work his way up to a marathon, and then get to 34 miles and maybe even more.

He ran for a year training normally after he decided to run across the country but only decided to run barefoot five months ago.

KNUDSON SAID THAT HE decided to run across the country before he had a charity or a cause to run for. But he knew that he wanted to make the run a first, which is why he chose to attempt it barefoot.

To date, he said his efforts have raised just short of $300,000. The main beneficiaries of the donations will be the partnering outreach programs featured on his Web site, www.runtellmanrun.com. The principle organizations receiving funds are Covenant House, Virgin Unite, the Youth Service Bureau in State College, Pa., and Three Rivers Youth in Pittsburgh. He said he plans to add more recipients as they present themselves on his way to California.

Knudson said that the successful online company that he owns is funding his entire run, so 100 percent of the proceeds will go directly to shelters and homes assisting homeless youth.

"I am a big believer in giving money to people who are willing to commit to doing something," he said. "If someone comes to us and says, 'We lost a $20,000 grant because of funding cuts so we can't get as many kids in the front door,' that is something I can absolutely get behind." He said he will happily work with shelters that can specifically say what they need assistance with.

Knudson explained that he chose to support homeless youth in America after having the opportunity to visit the private island of Sir Richard Branson, owner of Virgin Records, Virgin Mobile, and Virgin Airlines. There, Knudson met the CEO of Branson's non-profit company, Virgin Unite.

He learned of the non-profit's one U.S.-based initiative, which "goes after problems that are under the radar, that don't have much in the way of a champion to help solve them but are in dire need of help." This program addresses the problem of youth homelessness - teens on the street with no family and nowhere to go.

According to www.runtellmanrun.com, "researchers estimate that about 5 to 7.7 percent of youth experience homelessness each year." In addition, up to a third of runaways have been forced to perform a sexual act against his/her will, a third of all runaways will attempt suicide and this year and one in 260 runaways and homeless youths will die from assault, illness and suicide.

Knudson noted that this issue has not been highly publicized in the past because "most people assume that you just have some runaways who are punks who are begging for money on the side of the road."

He added that more than 2 million kids will experience homelessness this year for some period of time, a figure that doesn't even include adolescents with homeless families.

"That's kids by themselves on the street with no money and no food and no place to live, period. Most of them left home because of severe physical, sexual or drug abuse," Knudson said.

He stated that many of the runaways left an incredibly difficult home situation, "and the last thing they want to do is go to the authorities and get shipped back to an abusive household." This, he said, is why funding for youth shelters and homes is so paramount.

Knudson said that his initiative has two main objectives. The first is to make sure that the kids have food, clothing and shelter so they at least know where they are going to sleep that night. The shelters that are truly making a difference must be funded because "the people working at the homes are the first people to believe they could accomplish anything - ever."

The second objective is entrepreneurial training. The adolescents need to "learn how to go out and set up a situation for themselves on their own terms where they can succeed," he said.

While learning job skills is good, he added, entrepreneurial training will have the most long-term effect because "teaching them how to go out and set up a business doing something they really love and are naturally good at doing is a tool that can affect the rest of their lives."

Contributions can be donated at www.runtellmanrun.com.