In order to allow the maximum number of people to participate, the path linked major cities and meandered back and forth within the cities. There were sections where the "line" was six to ten people deep. Enough people participated that if an average of all the participants had been taken and spread evenly along the route standing four feet (1.2 m) apart, an unbroken chain across the 48 contiguous states would have been able to be formed.The event aimed to raise money to fight poverty and hunger by literally uniting millions of Americans in a single cause: forming a human chain spanning the continental United States. Together, sponsors and corporations accounted for roughly 2000 miles of the 4125-mile chain.
