Quick Escape 
We want to thank you, our community, for showing up for the 15th anniversary of Walk a Mile in Their Shoes and walking in solidarity with survivors of gender-based violence. Because of you, our community is safer.
With more than 500+ walkers, 43 teams, and 47 dedicated volunteers, we turned the Hamilton City Hall forecourt with red shoes, community, and solidarity for women, children, and gender-diverse people.
For this event’s 15th anniversary, Lohifa Pogoson Acker returned as our emcee to spread her incredible energy and amp up the crowd. We also were joined by Lisa from the Health and Wellness team for the beloved crowd-pleaser warmup to get pumped for the walk.
Event attendees then walked in solidarity with survivors of violence through the streets of downtown Hamilton, wearing red and holding signs – letting survivors know that they are not alone.
Following remarks from Mayor Andrea Horwath and YWCA CEO Medora Uppal addressed the crowd.
“Gender-based violence is an epidemic. We know that it will take all of us together to end this epidemic and build a world safer for women, children and gender-diverse people,” Uppal said. “We need allyship now more than ever. In what can feel like polarizing times, this community is united against gender-based violence.”
“This year, we have seen the strength of community action in beautiful ways. We have seen such an outpouring of support for our work on this 15th anniversary of Walk a Mile I am proud to share that we have more first-time walkers than all previous years bringing in more individual donations than ever before,” Medora said.
All jaws hit the floor with the presentation of $10,000 donation from Kiwanis Club of Hamilton East to YWCA Hamilton CEO Medora Uppal to help push us up and over our $150,000 fundraising goal.
Thank you to Club President, Gail Berberick, and all Kiwanis Members for your over 80 years of service putting millions of dollars into the community through worthy causes like ending gender-based violence!
We also celebrated the accomplishments of walkers in our Award Ceremony.
Meet the 2024 Award Winners:
Congratulations to Chris Farias for raising over $8,680.00 and winning the Top Individual Fundraiser Award for the second year in a row! Thank you for supporting survivors!
Congratulations to Team Bear for raising $22,660.00 (and counting!) and winning the Top Team Fundraiser Award. We’re so grateful to all 24 members of this incredible team!
Congratulations to Danielle Donville, YWCA Hamilton’s Graphic Design Coordinator, for completing a WAM hat trick! She raised $1,847+ and won Top Staff Fundraiser Award for the third year in a row.
Congratulations to Team Alectra for recruiting 122+ team members and winning the Biggest Team Award. A special thank you to Team Captain Alona and everyone who helped raise $9,883 towards your team goal!
Congratulations also goes out to the winners of the Grand Prize Draw, Michael Y.; WAM Sweeptakes, Alexandra S. from @errafahsionco; and Passport Winner, Amanda M.
We’re so incredibly grateful for the outpouring of support on this 15th anniversary of Walk a Mile in Their Shoes. We exceeded our fundraising goal and an incredible $159,135+ was raised to power life-saving programs and services.
This bring the total raised to over $1.5 million in the 15 years YWCA Hamilton has hosted this annual walk to support survivors. Thank you so much to everyone who supported this event!
This huge accomplishment is a testament of community support and it would not be possible without the generous support of sponsors and partners. A Special thank you to our 15th anniversary sponsor, Alectra and to our Matching Sponsor, LiUNA for matching donations up to $10,000. Thank you to:
15th Anniversary Sponsor – Alectra
Matching Sponsor – LiUNA!
Sneaker Sponsor – Robar Centre
Annual Partners – Atomic Spark, Soundbox Productions, Starward Homes, MacKay CEOForums, 2WA Consulting
Lunch Partner – Sheraton Hamilton Hotel
A heartfelt thank you to all our volunteers who made this event possible, you make Walk a Mile and you make our community. A huge shout out to Fresh Image Print for donating all the volunteer t-shirts.
Thank you so much for joining us and fundraising to power YWCA Hamilton’s life-saving programs that help women, children and gender-diverse people rebuild their lives after violence.
To see more from the event, view our online gallery.
We’ll keep the donation page open through the end of June should folks want to continue to support this critical work.
