The soles of Utu Langi's feet are covered with blisters. He even has blisters on top of blisters, but the charity worker, who yesterday completed a 10-day walk around O'ahu, doesn't mind. His suffering was for a good cause.

His walk of more than 130 miles with volunteers was intended to raise public awareness of the growing number of homeless people during Homeless Awareness Week.

"The blisters will go away," said Langi, a native of Tonga. "Homeless kids and families, every single day they have to pack up their stuff and pile it up on the sidewalk so the parks people can clean up. They get harassed every day. So the little sores I have are nothing compared to what they go through."

Langi is the founder and director of the H-5 Project, a faith-based group that cooks and delivers meals to about 3,000 homeless people every week from Wai'anae to Waimanalo.

Wearing T-shirts with the walk's theme, "Walk the Talk — Shelter for the People," Langi led about 25 marchers on the final leg of the journey yesterday from Aloha Tower to Honolulu Hale, where the group formed a circle and prayed for help for those living on the streets and beaches.

They then walked over to the State Capitol and joined about 200 homeless people and advocates waving signs at passing motorists.

At a candlelight vigil after dark, the group listened to testimonials from anyone who wanted to step up to the microphone and tell his story.

The annual Homeless Awareness Week ends today and included the signing of state and city proclamations, the staging of the musical "Truly Dually," and a forum on the state's plan to end homelessness in Hawai'i.

Sponsored by Partners in Care, a coalition comprising about 60 service providers and government organizations, the week's activities are intended to educate the community about the realities of homelessness and advocate for the people who are struggling daily with a severe housing crisis.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann thanked the homeless providers for their work after signing a city Homeless Awareness Week Proclamation yesterday, and acknowledged that homelessness is a growing problem in Honolulu. Officials estimate 6,000 people are homeless in the state on any given night.

"My view is we need to do this together," Hannemann said. "We don't have all the answers."

Both the city and the state have created affordable housing task forces to increase the number of rental units available to low-income people, said Darlene Hein, director of the Waikiki Health Center's Caravan healthcare program for the homeless.

Hein said Hawai'i's lack of affordable housing is a major contributing cause of homelessness.

"Homeless awareness is more than just one week," she said. "It is something that we have to continually do because this is really a voiceless population that needs our help."

Mack Stahl, 72, lives in a tent near the University of Hawai'i-Manoa. The veteran's only income is a Social Security check, which he says is not enough to pay the rent on an apartment.

Stahl does volunteer work to help Langi serve meals to other homeless people, and did the entire walk around the island with his friend.

Stahl said the best part of the walk was meeting others who are homeless and how generous they were in sharing what little they had.

The worst part, he said, was along the Wai'anae Coast when they passed a spot where the group H-5 often goes to feed hungry people.

"Just as we were coming, a homeless camp was bulldozed down," Stahl said. "They gave them 10 minutes' warning. Here we are walking to help the homeless and this happens."

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com.