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In 2009, the first year of the Skechers Pier to Pier Friendship Walk, Skechers president Michael Greenberg worried that the Great Recession would hurt participation and proceeds. Nonetheless, 1,700 walkers turned out and $220,000 was raised. The walk has built on that success with each succeeding year. Last year $1.4 million was raised. Last Sunday, over 12,000 walkers packed The Strand, from the Manhattan Beach pier to the Hermosa Beach Pier, helping to raise $1.6 million. That brought the cumulative proceeds to over $7 million, or nearly $1 million per year.
The walkers were cheered on and entertained by former Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda, model Camila Alves, “Dancing with Stars” host Brooke Burke-Charvet, Jordyn Jones, boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard, actress Asia Monet Ray, dancer Aidan Prince and boy band New District.
Proceeds will benefit the Friendship Foundation, which provides peer mentors for special needs kids and to South Bay school district education foundations.
Greenberg was convinced to help found the walk after Rabbi Yossi Mintz of the Friendship Foundation (formerly the Friendship Circle) showed him a video featuring the special needs children who would be helped. The program matches approximately 1,000 special needs students with classmates, who include them in their activities.
Greenberg said the organization’s work reminded him of the experience he had as a young man after his family moved. Finding himself without any friends, he said, he volunteered to escort students with special needs to their classes at his school.
The Friendship Circle began in 2005 with eight special needs children and 22 teen volunteers who met monthly in Manhattan Beach to socialize. For more about the Friendship Foundation visit WeGotFriends.com.
