10th annual Skechers Pier to Pier Friendship Walk

It will be all smiles and sunshine in the South Bay this Sunday—literally.

The 2018 Skechers Pier to Pier Friendship Walk is expected to draw a record-breaking 14,000 walkers to the beach for its tenth year and generate more than $2 million for special needs programs, according to event organizers.

For those who have yet to experience the event: the walk, which has become a community staple and has raised more than $10 million since its debut in 2009, is part fundraiser and part festival.

Participants loop the 3.4 miles south from the Manhattan Beach pier to the Hermosa Beach pier and back, walking alongside local marching bands, cheerleaders, sponsor Nickelodeon’s dressed up characters and even celebrities such as the Dodger’s Tommy Lasorda.

More walkers means more funds for six area school districts, as well as the event’s namesake Friendship Foundation, which supports programs that connect special needs children with peers in their community.

For the event organizers, Friendship founder Rabbi Yossi Mintz and Skechers CEO Michael Greenberg, the walk is about much more than fundraising: it is a celebration of friendship and unity on the personal and community levels.

“It’s not just about children with special needs, it’s about separating our differences and coming together to appreciate respect and show worthiness,” Mintz said. “This is a shining light not just for our community but for the world.”

“We all come together as one big South Bay family,” said Greenberg, who hopes attendees are inspired to a greater sense of compassion by the event. “When you see these children and their bonds of friendship, you can’t help but think about love and good things and it puts a smile on your face.”

The walk’s success and Greenberg’s support has helped bolster the Friendship Foundation, originally a small club out of Mira Costa High School, into a program that involves more than 1,800 youth in 37 different schools, according to Mintz.

The organization has played a pivotal role in creating friendships for South Bay residents such as 16-year-old Mira Costa student Talia, whose mother Tamar Colen noted “lights up” at the many Foundation events she attends.

“It was a place where we as a family just felt a sense of community and acceptance,” Colen said of the Friendship Foundation. “It was just a wonderful place for us. So when they started the walk, we were like, ‘this is amazing.’ And we’ve been walking ever since.”

Whether a veteran or newcomer to the Friendship walk, Mintz urged that everyone come be part of “the bright side of community.”

“Let it inspire each one of us to unity over divisiveness,” said Mintz.

For more information about the walk, visit skechersfriendshipwalk.com, or to learn more about the Friendship Foundation, visit friendshipfoundation.com.