A huge crowd of all ages showed up for the Ketchen-Downtown YMCA’s fundraiser on Friday, Sept. 27 in Downtown Los Angeles and tackled a stair climb and “urban hike” up to the top of the tallest skyscraper west of the Mississippi at 75 stories.
The Ketchum-Downtown YMCA Stair Climb at the U.S. Bank Tower drew an estimated 3,000-plus walkers, and even some gutsy runners, and all were rewarded with a medal for their perseverance at the 31st annual stair climb.
Firefighters from Colton, La Verne and San Marino line up to climb 75 flights of stairs at the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 during the Ketchum-Downtown YMCA Stair Climb, a fundraising event to support low-income families in the Downtown, Echo Park, Little Tokyo, and Pico-Union YMCAs. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
YMCA employees cheer on firefighters as they begin their ascent up 75 stories via the stairs at the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 during the Ketchum-Downtown YMCA Stair Climb, a fundraising event to support low-income families in the Downtown, Echo Park, Little Tokyo, and Pico-Union YMCAs. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Joseph Padilla, of the YMCA, hands out medals to those that climbed 75 flights of stairs at the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 during the Ketchum-Downtown YMCA Stair Climb, a fundraising event to support low-income families in the Downtown, Echo Park, Little Tokyo, and Pico-Union YMCAs. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Joseph Padilla, of the YMCA, hands out medals to those that climbed 75 flights of stairs at the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 during the Ketchum-Downtown YMCA Stair Climb, a fundraising event to support low-income families in the Downtown, Echo Park, Little Tokyo, and Pico-Union YMCAs. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
First responders celebrate climbing 75 flights of stairs at the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 during the Ketchum-Downtown YMCA Stair Climb, a fundraising event to support low-income families in the Downtown, Echo Park, Little Tokyo, and Pico-Union YMCAs. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
First responders celebrate climbing the stairs at 75-story-tall U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 during the Ketchum-Downtown YMCA Stair Climb, a fundraising event to support low-income families in the Downtown, Echo Park, Little Tokyo, and Pico-Union YMCAs. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
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Firefighters from Colton, La Verne and San Marino line up to climb 75 flights of stairs at the U.S. Bank Tower in Los Angeles on Friday, Sept. 27, 2024 during the Ketchum-Downtown YMCA Stair Climb, a fundraising event to support low-income families in the Downtown, Echo Park, Little Tokyo, and Pico-Union YMCAs. (Photo by Sarah Reingewirtz, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
All proceeds from the event go to the Ketchum-Downtown Y programs to support families with enrichment programs for youth in Downtown, Echo Park, Little Tokyo and Pico-Union, where about 75,000 school-age children live. In a prepared statement, the Ketchum-Downtown YMCA said the Y “serves as a bridge between the Downtown L.A. business center and the residential neighborhoods it overlooks.”
One program, Growing Young Minds, provides homework help, mentoring, STEM, summer day camp, swim lessons, youth sports and sleep-away camp. And because food insecurity impacts the area, the Los Angeles Y distributes fresh produce. And efforts are underway to provide families with holiday food baskets and toys for children at Hoover Street Elementary School west of downtown.
Tomas K - Moderator 
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