Andrew Funk's Great Walk to Highlight the Global Homelessness Crisis

Two years ago, Smiley News interviewed Andrew Funk, Founder and President of Homeless Entrepreneur. We got to hear his incredible story and learn about how Homeless Entrepreneur is helping people out of difficult situations and back into work and stable housing.

Now, in January 2025, Smiley News joined Andrew and Homeless Entrepreneur on The Great Walk - a 150km trek from Zurich to Davos to raise awareness for the 150,000,000 people worldwide who are homeless.

Along the way, we chatted with Andrew about the inspiration for The Great Walk, Homeless Entrepreneur, and what your support could mean for the charity.

Where Did the Idea for the Great Walk Come From?

I created The Great Walk because I met a guy named Joe Roberts who walked across Canada to raise one million dollars for homelessness. [It took] 18 months, he did with the shopping cart. I was like, ‘Well, I don't want to be homeless again, so I'm not gonna do that!’

I checked it out from Barcelona [to Davos], and that was 30 days, same thing. And then I figured, everything's got to make sense - so 150 kilometres for 150 million homeless people. Just by chance, it was Zurich [to Davos], which is the most expensive city in Europe and third most expensive in the world.

Tell Me About the Great Walk

The ideal thing is to have six people on the team for the entire trip. One is a local guide and one is an investor - but it's hard to convince people to commit. Three people had to drop out [this year] because of health issues. 

This is the third Great Walk we've done, and every time it's been different. This time we've really gotten the community involved more than ever, which is beautiful. 

Over the past three years, I’ve walked around 450km. 

What Have You Been Thinking About for the Last 150km?

What's the cost of connectivity? What's the cost of friendship? And how do you make that happen? You have to invest in getting to know a new place. 

We've been doing The Great Walk since 2018 and at the beginning you always have people saying it’s just a publicity stunt. After seven years, that discourse just fades away because it's no longer an issue of commitment or credibility. It’s hard, though. That takes a long time.

I just know I've dedicated the last decade of my life to this, and the only way for it to be sustainable is for me to help people and connect with people with resources.

What Are Your Short, Mid and Long-term Goals for Homeless Entrepreneur?

[Short-term] is having €500,000 year budget annually for like, the next five to ten years, so that way we have stability in the organisation. Mid-term is to have a model that's accepted and promoted around the world. Long-term is a community of people who are able to proactively respond to people in a homeless situation who want to improve their lives.

What Sort of Proactive Response Would You Suggest Based on Your Experiences as a Homeless?

[One of our] programmes is the Helpline. That means when anyone has a situation, they can contact us; the sooner the better. Then the Voices programme [enables] them to get their story up and connect with the community. [It means] people can have all the resources they need to come back to work.

Is There Anything You Want to Implement That You Don't Have the Budget for Yet?

My main thing is to just have a stronger core team. Having €500,000 annually would allow us to do so much more. 

With €100,000 we can empower 1000 people through our programs - €500,000 that would allow us to impact 5000 people a year. It also lowers the cost. In the beginning, it cost €10,000 to help one person, and we have since brought that down to €3000. We want to create a stronger core so we can respond better.

‘Help’ is when people are able to work and pay for their own house and are not dependent upon assistance. ‘Help’ is when they can help others because they've already helped themselves.

Charity Check-in

At Smiley Movement, we like to elevate the work of charities across the world. Here are three charities whose causes align with the themes in this article. 

Homeless Entrepreneur. This nonprofit that helps people experiencing homelessness to connect with businesses, entrepreneurs, and those who are looking to hire. Find out more.

Emmaus. This charity is a UK-based charity and community working together to end homelessness. Learn more here. 

Swiss Solidarity. This Swiss-based nonprofit collects donations and ensures that they go towards high quality humanitarian and social projects. Support them here.

This article aligns with the UN SDG No Poverty, Partnerships For The Goals.