VA2K Walk and Roll
The VA2K Walk and Roll is an annual event to inspire VA employees, Veterans and the community to incorporate healthy activity into their workday while supporting houseless Veterans.
Virtual VA2K Week
May 18-24, 2026
How do I register?
Single, Pair, and Team walkers are all welcome! The VA2K is a great opportunity to connect with friends, family, and colleagues in a shared activity. Team members do not have to physically walk together. Start organizing a team, create an awesome name, and use the team sign up link below to register. Prefer to compete individually? No problem, use the individual link to sign up!
DEADLINE for registration: Wednesday, May 13, 2026
What is Virtual VA2K Week?
Everyone is encouraged to walk and roll 1.24 miles (approximately 2,625 steps, 20-30 minutes) for health at least once during the week. VAPORHCS is stepping up the friendly competition by including a week-long step challenge for teams and/or individuals to compete for who can cover the most distance during May 18-24th! Submit total steps by COB on May 29th, 2026.
How does this support Houseless Veterans?
In addition to encouraging healthy movement, the purpose of this event is to raise donations for veterans with housing needs. Participants are welcome to donate new goods to designated donation areas. Collection boxes will be located at Canteen locations in Portland and Vancouver. Consider using the list below of highly requested items to guide your donations. And don’t forget to include your receipts for accurate accounting of the value of donated goods.
Virtual donations are accepted. Select VA Portland Health Care System for Facility. Select Community Reintegration Services as program for donation. Type in VA2K under Donor Intent/Additional Information section. Visit the E-donate webpage to submit a virtual donation. For more information, contact Amy Williams, VAPORHCS VA2K coordinator and Whole Health Nurse Educator. Ext. 57005
Most requested items:
- trail mix
- tuna packets/salmon
- cheese and crackers
- Meat sticks
- protein bar
- cup of noodles
- peanut butter packets
- puddings/ other items you can eat without teeth
- cases of water
- jeans
- t-shirts
- sleeping bags
- men’s underwear
- First aid kits
- parkas
- boots
- shoes
Additional Suggestions:
- Body wash
- Cleaning supplies
- Deodorant
- Disposable razors
- Shampoo
- Shaving Cream
- Toothbrush
- Toothpaste
Watch this 2 minute video for some helpful warm-up tips for people of all ages.
Can I put a team together?
Yes! Single, Pair, and Team walkers are all welcome. The VA2K is a great opportunity to connect with friends, family and colleagues in a shared activity. Team members do not have to physically walk and roll together.
Get others to join you and compete against other teams to see how many people will walk and roll! Total distance will be calculated at the end of the event to see “where” in the world VA Portland walk and rollers have made it to.
Where do I walk?
Scan the QR code below for a link to all routes across VA Portland or go to this link to see them all.
Outdoor routes around VA locations are walk and roll friendly and provided for convenience, but not required. Click location link to access the routes/maps. To walk 2K within the VA Portland Medical Center, you can walk 5 “loops” on the VA Portland – OHSU skybridge (0.25 miles each loop).
- Bend route information
- The Dalles route information
- Fairview route information
- Hillsboro route information
- North Coast route information
- Portland VA Medical Center route information
- Salem route information
- West Linn route information
- Vancouver route information
Questions?
Contact Amy Williams, VAPORHCS VA2K coordinator and Whole Health Nurse Educator. Ext. 57005
Why walk?
Walking strengthens your cardiovascular system, tones muscles, increases flexibility and can help shed pounds and reduce stress. Even a moderate amount of exercise daily can improve your health. We hope that you will consider continuing to walk, roll or exercise daily after this event.
All adults should avoid inactivity by moving more and sitting less. Regular physical activity lowers the risk of depression, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, stroke, and 8 types of cancer. Learn more here.
In 2025, VA Portland had a record number of VA employees participate. There were 643 registrations (up from 514 in 2023), included 42 teams. As a facility we walked a total of 33,013,646 steps, or 14,633 miles. That is equivalent to 471,623 laps of the entirety of Forest Park!
Let’s see if we can go further for 2026!
And last but not least, we have some exercise warm up tips from Trevor Miller, our very own Recreational Therapist!