On Saturday, Oct. 10, Street Angels will host its first community gala, held at the 3rd Street Market Hall in downtown Milwaukee.
The event coincides with World Homeless Day. Street Angels, a mobile outreach organization that assists individuals in ending homelessness, provides essential needs, such as hot meals, mobile showers and connection to services.
Eva Welch, co-founder and CEO of Street Angels, said the organization started as a volunteer group and that the road to become a nonprofit organization wasn’t easy. She said the gala is to help springboard its next steps.
“We are looking to raise funds. Without that funding there will be no next 10 years,” Welch said. “We are also looking to gather the people that made this happen. This is about the community. There will be well over 200 people at the event that will be celebrating them.”
Tom Grossi, a National Football League content creator, will serve as the gala’s main speaker. Grossi conducted a charity stream last winter that raised over $180,000 for Street Angels.
Additionally, the Hoan Bridge will be illuminated purple in the night sky on Saturday — the color associated with raising awareness on homelessness.
Jemel Veasy, an outreach specialist for Street Angels, said that the lighting of the bridge can serve as a marker in the minds of travelers.
“If you don’t have information about what’s going on, if you don’t come out to an event and you just happen to Google and see why the bridge is lit, you will get an understanding of what’s going on and why it’s that way,” Veasy said.
Street Angels expands services to meet increased need
The line toward celebrating a decade of work to tackle homelessness since Street Angels’ founding in 2016 hasn’t been a straight one.
In 2021, the organization assisted 529 individuals verified as unsheltered. By 2025, that figure more than doubled to 1,247, according to the organization’s annual impact report.
The organization has increased services since its first four to five years to meet the increased need.
“What we were able to do to combat that was to add more staff, longer outreach routes, the shower program. We’ve recently added a resource navigation specialist to assist outside of outreach hours,” Welch said. “Fortunately, we’ve been able to grow to continue to meet the need.”
What’s next
Street Angels’ 10th anniversary gala will take place on Saturday, Oct. 10 from 3 to 7 p.m. at Venue 3 in the 3rd Street Market Hall, 275 W. Wisconsin Ave.
Social hour begins at 3 p.m. with a presentation from 4 to 5:30 p.m. You can purchase tickets here.
Jonathan Aguilar is a visual journalist at Milwaukee Neighborhood News Service who is supported through a partnership between CatchLight Local and Report for America.
Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.
