{"id":401337,"date":"2026-09-16T09:44:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401337\/"},"modified":"2026-09-16T09:44:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:44:21","slug":"student-volunteer-pushing-forward-miles-to-go-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/401337\/","title":{"rendered":"Student volunteer pushing forward ‘Miles to Go’ mission"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Miles to Go Charities<\/a> is a nonprofit started after a boy asked his mom for money to give to someone in need.<\/p>\n

Miles, the 9-year-old boy, co-founded the nonprofit to help people experiencing homelessness.<\/p>\n

Now, it’s a 100%-volunteer organization that raises funds through events like an annual 5K. It is made possible by volunteers like Nathan Pokras, who said he got involved with hopes of making a difference.<\/p>\n

Pokras loads item after item into bags to give to the homeless.<\/p>\n

“We got shirts, clothes, socks,” Pokras said. “Just in case, we also have wipes and, of course, a poncho because Florida is rainy,” Pokras said.<\/p>\n

He said being part of the nonprofit is special, and he is excited to give back to the community and the organization.<\/p>\n

“I really appreciate what they’re doing for the homeless people, people experiencing homelessness, and it’s just, what they are doing is really great and I really love supporting them,” Pokras said.<\/p>\n

Danielle Newbold, the chief executive officer of Miles to Go who also is Miles’ mom, said she loves seeing excited young people like Pokras get involved.<\/p>\n

“It’s inspiring, right? And whenever we get tired or we think that what we’re doing is not creating change, they remind us that it is,” Newbold said. “Sometimes it takes a little while to see it, but their energy keeps it going.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Right now, the organization is getting ready for one of its biggest fundraisers of the year, the Miles to Go 5K<\/a>, which starts at 8 a.m. Sept. 19 at Bill Frederick Park in Orlando. Runners must register.<\/p>\n

Last year, that event raised $100,000 to help the unhoused who receive services through other local charities.<\/p>\n

“It’s kind of nice because I feel like my family kind of races to help others pay it forward,” said Jocelin Yau, who is Pokras’ mother. “So I really am so happy that he has that. I know it can make me cry.”\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Miles to Go Charities is a nonprofit started after a boy asked his mom for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":401338,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[767,2297,3076,770,28293,2296,54687,1548,115,768,139,141,140,835],"class_list":["post-401337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-community","tag-app-everyday-heroes","tag-app-good-news","tag-community-news","tag-curtis-mccloud","tag-everyday-hero","tag-everyday-heroes","tag-good-news","tag-news","tag-orange-county-fl","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401337"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401337\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/401338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}