L.A. United Way Sponsors HomeWalk to Raise Money for the Homeless

According to a November 17th press release of the United Way of Los Angeles, the organization along with the Fannie Mae Foundation held its first HomeWalk on the same day. According to the press release approximately three thousand people marched for five kilometers in Exposition Park to raise money for the homeless. A visual and audio representation of the lives of three homeless people was presented in the path of the walkers to reinforce their commitment. The Los Angeles Homewalk took place at the same time as the Fannie Mae Foundation Help the Homeless Program and Walkathon was carried on in six other cities in the United States including Washington, D.C., which has held a march on the Saturday before Thanksgiving for twenty years now. The other new cities for the Help the Homeless March this year, according to the Fannie Mae Foundation Help the Homeless National website were Boston, Massachusetts; Denver, Colorado; Dallas, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlanta, Georgia; and Seattle, Washington.

Elise Buic, president and CEO of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles was quoted in the organization's press release as maintaining: "HomeWalk is the cornerstone of our new initiative to move people out of poverty by educating and engaging residents and business leaders on the solutions to homelessness in order to get families and individuals permanently off the streets and into supportive housing." Public officials participating in the event in Los Angeles included Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, State Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas, and LA City Council Woman Jan Perry.

The United Way of Los Angeles announced that the event had exceeded its goal of raising five hundred thousand dollars and that one hundred percent of the monies raised would be given to assist the homeless. The HomeWalk is an outgrowth of LA's Action Plan to help the seventy three thousand people per night who are homeless in the county of Los Angeles, according to the press release.