On Saturday, July 25, 2026, a single block of Towne Avenue in downtown Los Angeles looked nothing like it usually does.Â
Barbecue smoke drifted down the street. Music played. Barbers set up chairs on the sidewalk, volunteers filled plates, and stacks of red backpacks started moving into the hands of the people who needed them.
For four hours, from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM, the heart of Skid Row became a one-day hub of hope.
The Skid Row United Block Party was co-presented by Humanity Heroes and Healing Los Angeles Together, staged on Towne Avenue between 4th and 5th Street.Â
Advanced Nutrients, led by founder and CEO Michael “BigMike” Straumietis, served as a lead supporting partner and sponsor.Â
More than 30 nonprofit organizations from across greater Los Angeles came together under one banner: “Celebrating Community, Connecting Resources, Changing Lives.”
By the time the tables came down, over 800 people had been served.
What the Day Delivered
The block party was built around a simple idea: bring essential supplies, services, and resources together in one place for members of the Skid Row community experiencing homelessness or hardship, including individuals, families, and their pets.
Guests had access to:
- Humanity Packs – the signature red backpacks stocked with hygiene supplies, sanitation items, protection from the elements, and safety essentials
- Food – a summer BBQ with warm meals served throughout the day
- Barbering – haircuts and professional barber services
- Foot care – pedicures and foot rubs
- Pet supplies – food and treats for the dogs who live on the block alongside their people
- Support services – medical, mental health, and social services delivered on site
- Entertainment – live music and performances
- Resource connections – face-to-face access to organizations doing this work year-round
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Those comforts matter more than they may appear from the outside.
A fresh haircut, a clean towel, a hot meal, and restorative foot care are more than comforts for people navigating the daily hardships of life without stable housing.
They are dignity, handed over in person.
The Driving Force Behind It
Humanity Heroes traces its roots to 2011, when a near-death experience left BigMike rethinking everything.
He had built the businesses. He had the money and the recognition. He was already deep into his life’s work of making cannabis an acceptable and everyday part of healing humanity.Â
And still, something was missing.
So he started giving.
In 2012, while living in Bulgaria, he launched Holiday Heroes and rallied food and beverage companies to provide more than 27,500 families with celebratory meals, along with tens of thousands of toys for children who would have gone without.
Then he relocated to Los Angeles and saw Skid Row with his own eyes. The distance between the life he was living and the conditions a few miles away was impossible to ignore.
In 2016 he founded Humanity Heroes. The organization has since reached more than 80,000 people experiencing homelessness.
His philosophy is direct: if a company has the financial resources, it has a social responsibility to help humanity.
That belief runs through Advanced Nutrients as a company, and it shows up in how the work gets done.Â
BigMike walks the streets of Skid Row himself and asks the men and women he meets what they need most. Their answers, not a committee, are what created the Humanity Packs in the first place.
More Than 30 Charities, One City Block
No single organization can meet the scale of need in Los Angeles. That is why the block party was built as an alliance rather than a solo effort.
Partners on the street included the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, Wound Walk, Paul’s Project, Open Paths Counseling Center, TruConnect, and Global Citizen, alongside dozens of other nonprofits and a dedicated team of local volunteers who gave up their Saturday.
Pooling more than 30 groups onto one block did something none of them could have done alone.Â
Instead of sending someone across the city for a service they may never reach, a volunteer could walk them fifteen feet to the table that could help.Â
Resources that are normally scattered were suddenly stacked in one place, and every organization’s reach multiplied because of it.
Stepping Into the Gap
Homelessness in Los Angeles has outpaced the response to it.Â
City and state initiatives have not moved fast enough or far enough, and the people living on Towne Avenue are the ones absorbing the difference.
Humanity Heroes and its partners are not waiting for that to change. Direct action, delivered in person, closes the gap today while the larger fight continues.
For the residents of Skid Row who came through on July 25, that meant leaving with supplies that will last for months, a meal in their stomach, services they can follow up on, and something harder to quantify: the reminder that they were seen.
How You Can Get Involved
Humanity Heroes runs on volunteers, and the commitment is smaller than most people expect. Many roles at events like this take only one to one and a half hours, and the impact is immediate and visible.
Register for upcoming initiatives or learn more about the ongoing work:
- Website: joinhumanityheroes.org
- Email: volunteers@joinhumanityheroes.org
- Instagram: @joinhumanityheroes
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One block. One afternoon. More than 800 people served.
The next one only happens if people show up.
