Hundreds of walkers, runners, skateboarders and, for the first time, stand up paddlers covered the 3.4 miles from the Manhattan Beach pier to the Hermosa Beach pier and back Saturday morning during the 24th Annual Richstone Pier-to-Pier Walkathon.
Team Kosmo, led by Kosmo, a labradoodle who participates in a reading program at Richstone, was the overall fundraising winner. Wells Fargo Capital Finance was awarded first place in the company category. And Manhattan Beach Middle School earned first place the school winner in the schools division. Hermosa View Elementary School and Hermosa Valley School took second place.
The walkathon raised over $130,000.
Richstone Family Center, in Hawthorne, is a counseling center that promotes healthy families through the prevention of violence in homes, schools and communities. The center provides a broad spectrum of services ranging from after-school programs to parenting classes.
“It is a very worthwhile organization that is primarily donation driven,” Elizabeth Stuart a volunteer with the center said.
“We have had great support from the community – from all sectors including companies, schools and individuals,” Roland Ramirez, executive director of Richstone said.
“It is a wonderful way to bring the community together in support of our mission and to highlight there is a big need to prevent child abuse,” Ramirez said.
“You are mending hearts one at a time and your participation means so much,” Richstone boardmember Coleen Courtney Cole said during a thank you to the participants.
For more about Richstone, visit richstonefamily.org ER
