Questions
Common Questions
Everything you need to know before you walk, back a walker, or fund a hero directly.
The Mission & The Model
It's a walk-a-thon with a mission. Everyday Americans commit to a fixed 15-mile distance, complete it at their own pace, and gather per-mile pledges from the people in their life. The money raised funds FDA-cleared Wandercraft exoskeletons for specific named veterans — our 'Heroes' — starting with Joshua L. Holm.
The Wandercraft exoskeleton is an FDA-cleared, self-balancing bionic suit that enables people with lower-limb paralysis to stand and walk again. The technology is market ready today — what stands between a paralyzed veteran and walking is funding, not engineering.
Fifteen miles, with no deadline — finish at your own pace. It is a distance, not a set course — there is no single route and no event you have to travel to. Walk it around your neighborhood, on an outdoor track, on a trail, or just by walking more during your ordinary day. The free Walk For A Hero app measures real distance by GPS, so it has to be ground you actually cover outdoors; a treadmill or StairMaster does not add miles. You can break it into as many separate walks as you want: fifteen one-mile walks counts exactly the same as one fifteen-mile walk.
Walk For A Hero funds U.S. military veterans living with lower-limb paralysis who medically qualify for exoskeleton mobility technology. Candidates are reviewed by the board with clinical input, and each funded veteran is named publicly on this site with their own campaign page.
No. They are two separate organizations that share a founder. Glenn Baker founded Walk For A Hero Foundation, and he also founded Finish This Fight, a separate documentary project. Walk For A Hero Foundation is the registered 501(c)(3) described on this site, and a donation made here funds a named veteran's Wandercraft exoskeleton package — it does not fund Finish This Fight. If you meant to support the documentary, you are in the wrong place, and we would rather tell you that than take the gift.
Where The Money Goes
$150,000, start to finish. That covers the exoskeleton itself, five years of maintenance, the travel required to get fitted and trained, and the physical therapy that turns the technology into a real walk. We don't call a hero funded when the box arrives — we call it funded when they're still standing years later.
100% of every dollar designated to a hero's campaign funds that hero's package — the exoskeleton, five years of maintenance, travel for fitting and training, and the physical therapy that gets them walking. Payment processing fees are the one unavoidable deduction on a card gift, and they are taken by the processor, not by us. Walk For A Hero Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3); all gifts are tax-deductible.
Every dollar designated to a hero's campaign funds that veteran's journey — the exoskeleton, five years of maintenance, travel for fitting and training, and physical therapy. That scope is fixed and it is the entire list: no gala budget, no brand campaign, no line item you have to go hunting for.
Yes. Walk For A Hero Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, and donations are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law. You'll receive an emailed receipt for every gift.
Yes. Walk For A Hero Foundation is a registered 501(c)(3), so donations are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law. A receipt is emailed to you automatically when your gift is processed — keep it for your records.
Very likely — thousands of U.S. employers match charitable gifts to registered 501(c)(3) organizations, often dollar for dollar. Submit your receipt through your employer's matching-gift program and reach out to us if they need documentation of our nonprofit status.
Corporations, foundations and private donors can fund a hero's entire $150,000 journey, underwrite a named portion of one, sponsor a walker team, or set up a matching program that multiplies every pledge our walkers bring in. Foundations and donor-advised funds can grant directly to Walk For A Hero Foundation as a registered 501(c)(3). Major private gifts, stock transfers, estate and legacy giving are all welcome and handled personally — email us and Glenn or a board member will speak with you directly, not a form letter.
Taking Part
No. You can support a walker with a per-mile pledge, make a one-time donation, or back a specific Hero directly. Walking is one powerful way to help — but every backer matters.
Once you sign up as a Walker, you sign in to the free Walk For A Hero app with the same email. It tracks your mileage live from your phone's GPS: you press Allow location & start, walk, and press and hold End Walk when you're done. Our step-by-step guide at walkforahero.com/how-to-help shows every screen. Tracking keeps running with the screen off or the phone in your pocket, as long as you don't force-close the app. GPS is the only way miles are recorded; they cannot be typed in by hand, which is what keeps every mile behind every pledge verifiable. Because it measures real distance travelled, a treadmill or StairMaster walk needs to be logged by walking that distance outdoors instead. Your pledges tally automatically.
Miles are recorded from the walker's phone GPS track during the walk itself, and there is no manual entry — no form, no honour system, no way to add a mile you didn't travel. That's a deliberate integrity decision by the board: every mile behind every pledge is backed by a real recorded route, so a backer's money is tied to a walk that genuinely happened.
Ten is the minimum to get started — and there is no maximum. Ten people pledging $5 a mile behind a 15-mile walk comes to $750 raised by one walker, which is the floor, not the target. Every backer past the tenth adds to the same walk, so bring as many as you can. That's the whole design: no single person carries this, and no walker has to ask anyone for a large amount.
Yes to the first. There is no deadline, so fifteen miles can be spread across as many days and walks as you need, at whatever pace you walk. Walkers of every fitness level and age take part. The campaign is U.S.-focused because the veterans it funds are American, but supporters anywhere can back a walker or donate.
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