Homelessness Awareness Walk Heads To Princeton Ahead Of FIFA World Cup Final Stop

PRINCETON, NJ — Andrew Funk once spent nine months without a home. Now he's walking 93 miles to make sure fewer people do.

Funk, founder of the Barcelona-based nonprofit Homeless Entrepreneur, set out from Philadelphia on Tuesday on a five-day trek, called The World Cup Great Walk.

The walk will carry him and dozens of others through Princeton this week before ending at New York New Jersey Stadium (renamed from MetLife) in time for the FIFA World Cup final.

The walk is scheduled to pass through Langhorne, Pennsylvania, then Princeton and New Brunswick, before continuing to Elizabeth and finally New York New Jersey Stadium ahead of the championship match. The group will make their stop in Princeton on Wednesday.

Funk said the walk covers roughly 150 kilometers, or 93 miles, over five days, with participants walking in stretches of about 3.5 miles before taking short breaks. Twenty six people will take part in some portion of the route, a number tied to the FIFA World Cup slogan "We Are 26."

"We're saying we are 26 to homelessness," Funk said.

About four people, including Funk, plan to walk the entire route, while roughly 22 others will join at different points along the way. The group is using a recreational vehicle for overnight accommodations and a separate safety vehicle to support participants, though Funk said organizers were still working to secure lodging in Philadelphia ahead of the walk's start.

Funk was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and raised in Texas before attending Arizona State University, where he graduated a year early. He then moved to Spain, where he taught English and eventually opened his own English-language school.

About a decade ago, he co-founded a venture connecting entrepreneurs with investors that raised 300,000 euros — money he said his business partner spent on employee salaries, leaving him with a fraction of the funds. The financial fallout, combined with strain at home, led to his experience with homelessness.

"So when that happened, it was nine months going in, nine months coming out," Funk said. "And in that process, helping myself, then I wanted to help others."

Funk now leads Great Walk from the organization's headquarters in Barcelona, where it primarily operates across Europe and the United States.

Since then, Funk said, the organization has helped more than 3,500 people in 21 countries across four continents through a helpline, a storytelling initiative called the Voices program, and a year-long Help program that assists people in becoming "active working citizens" through five to 15 hours of weekly engagement.

Funk pointed to two men walking with the group this week as examples of the program's work. One, Eric Ross, reached out to the organization's helpline in December and has since participated in the Voices and Help programs while working in digital content creation, Funk said. Another participant, identified only as Tuck, has worked with the organization for three years and runs a YouTube channel focused on raising awareness about homelessness, according to Funk.

"Everyone right now that's sitting at the table has experienced homelessness at one point or another," Funk told Patch while taking a lunch break in Philadelphia.

Funk said the Help program costs approximately 3,000 euros, or roughly $3,300, per person, and the organization is seeking sponsors and donors to support participants. He said the walk's fundraising goals include ending homelessness for 26 people through the Help program, an initial milestone of about $80,000, with a broader goal of raising 150,000 euros, or about $175,000, to support 26 people in the United States and 26 in Europe.

Among the organization's partners is the Project Management Institute, a global certification body for project managers with roughly 770,000 members, Funk said. He said the group also works with companies including IBM and has connections to the Homeless World Cup, an organization that uses soccer to support people experiencing homelessness.

The walk is a continuation of past events, including one held last summer in Europe that Funk said covered more than 1 million steps and was recognized by PSV Eindhoven, the Dutch football club that won back-to-back domestic league titles.

He said this week's walk marks the organization's first in the United States, timed deliberately to coincide with the World Cup.

According to Funk, the biggest challenge they face is less about geography than mindset.

"The biggest challenge would be the fact that the social services provide assistance-based solutions, so people are used to receiving things passively instead of participating in the process," Funk said.

He said connecting with communities outside major cities, including towns along the New Jersey stretch of the walk, is a priority for the organization.

"It's really important for us to connect with the rural community, and it's not just the cities," Funk said. "It's also about the network of people that can provide support."

Despite the walk's finish line falling just outside the stadium, Funk said the group won't be attending the World Cup final itself.

"Not paying $30,000 for that," Funk said of a ticket to the match. "That would help 10 people."

Instead, organizers said they hope to draw the attention of soccer's governing bodies to their cause. Funk said Great Walk has been in touch with FIFA through partner organizations, including the Homeless World Cup, and is hoping to reach FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the tournament. He said a Spain-England final would work in the organization's favor, given its ties to communities in both countries.

Members of the public are welcome to join the walk for any distance, even a single mile. Those interested in getting involved or seeking assistance can reach the organization by phone, WhatsApp (+34 697 877 089) or email (funk@homelessentrepreneur.org).

To donate to the cause, click here.

"It's not just about the homeless communities," Funk said. "It's also about the network of people that can provide support. We just want to get people to enter the conversation."

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