On Nov. 6, the day before the Los Angeles Rams host the Tennessee Titans on “Sunday Night Football,” fans and community members can spend their Saturday at SoFi Stadium for the inaugural WalkUnitedLA, an expansion and reimagining of the flagship HomeWalk event. The annual event is designed to power the movement to end poverty for LA’s homeless neighbors, students and working families.
Since 2007, HomeWalk has brought together more than 125,000 people from across Los Angeles County and raised over $9.5 million to end homelessness for over 20,000 of the unhoused. The event united Angelenos supporting bold solutions to bring everyone In through the single largest annual event to end homelessness across the nation.
This year, United Way of Greater Los Angeles, in partnership with the LA Rams, is expanding the focus of this event to acknowledge and address the intersectional root causes of poverty and benefit the diverse community organizations working to build a more equitable Los Angeles.
“Together, we will WalkUnited to help those hit hardest by the pandemic,” said Elise Buik, president and CEO of United Way of Greater Los Angeles. “In HomeWalk’s evolution to WalkUnitedLA, we recognize that homelessness cannot be solved in a vacuum and the root causes of poverty are undeniably linked.”
“When developing SoFi Stadium and Hollywood Park, Mr. Kroenke’s vision was to create the world’s greatest entertainment destination and a venue that would unite our community,” said Los Angeles Rams chief operating officer, Kevin Demoff. “With WalkUnitedLA, the Rams look forward to expanding our partnership with United Way of Greater Los Angeles and deepening our commitment to fight for housing, education and opportunity for all our neighbors in need.”
ABC-7/KABC-TV Los Angeles is joining with the Rams to build upon the success of last year’s Te’LA’thon for Los Angeles that raised $2.3 million for United Way’s Pandemic Relief Fund and LA Regional Food Bank. ABC-7 also teamed with the Rams to support last year’s virtual HomeWalk that raised more than $550,000 for United Way and their efforts to fight homelessness.
WalkUnitedLA participants will raise funds and awareness to end homelessness; provide equitable and quality education to all students; and ensure greater economic mobility and increased access to opportunities for working families and individuals.
Local philanthropic leaders will boost impact by matching funds raised by participants. The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation will match $400,000 of pledges to benefit organizations working to end homelessness in Los Angeles County, and the Margie & Robert E. Petersen Foundation will match $350,000 raised to support United Way’s mission to improve access and quality of education opportunities for students.
Register now at www.walkunitedla.org to start or join a team.
