you must first initialize $foo_text when using -w... try the following 

#!/usr/bin/perl -w

use strict;
my $foo_text = '';
$foo_text .= $_ while (<DATA>);
print "$foo_text\n";

__DATA__
foo wears foo shoes at the foo store.

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In reply to Re: while modifier by suaveant
in thread while modifier by Anonymous Monk

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