A Worthy Excursion: Manhattan Beach for Skechers Pier to Pier Friendship Walk

October 18, 2013 by Leave a Comment

The Friendship Circle is a wonderful organization that pairs students with their peers with special needs, to offer camaraderie and support, at school, at home, and in the community. There are chapters in 80 cities and in other countries too. We have one here in Agoura Hills. In the South Bay, the local chapter of the Friendship Circle together with Skechers, which is headquartered in Manhattan Beach, is holding their annual Friendship Walk on Sunday, October 27 with a goal to raise money to benefit their organization and give back to the local schools where they meet.

Kids in the Friendship Circle meet for lunchtime clubs so that kids with special needs can have a trusted community of friends at school. They also meet up at home, with the volunteers helping them to form connections and make friends. The South Bay chapter also holds many special events and even a special camp on Catalina Island in the summer that seems like the highlight of the year for everyone involved.

I attended a blogger luncheon at Skechers headquarters with members of the Friendship Circle, the Skechers corporation, and another sponsor, Fresh Brothers Pizza.  We watched a video and a presentation from a buddy pair of kids who met through the Friendship Circle. The connection between these teens – a volunteer and a boy who has autism and communicates by writing instead of speaking – was obvious and incredibly heartwarming. The boy’s parents were in attendance as well and they spoke about how The Friendship Circle has been instrumental in their son’s positive development over the years.

The Friendship Walk is in its 5th year and has grown to become a celebrated community event drawing participants from all over the region. Participants take off and walk from 9AM to noon, but there are many special events and activities in the area throughout the day, emceed by my pal, TV host and online personality Jill Simonian. A funky pumpkin race, that you can enter, will take place after the walk! All who are registered will get their own Walk T-Shirt, gift bag and medal – you can register online for yourself and your kids too! Registration is $25 and you can even add to that by raising funds to donate, too. Like their page on Facebook to keep track of all the new and exciting things they add almost daily, including giveaways!

This event has win stamped all over it. I mean, you’re helping people, having fun, and you’re spending the day here:

manhattan beach

Filed Under: Events, Excursions, Fun Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

“Lost In Living,” Documentary About Motherhood Screening This Friday

January 28, 2013 by 2 Comments

There is a lovely, quiet, and amazing film in the works.

It tells the story of a handful of women and their lives as creative people who are also mothers.

The filmmaker, Mary Trunk, followed their stories for seven years before assembling her footage into a feature-length film.

“Lost In Living” is visually beautiful and its theme is one that almost every mother that I know can understand:  the internal struggle between the woman you were before you had children and the mother you have become.  Where is the time in your life, now that you have kids, for your art or your hobby or your passion?  Does it lurk beneath the surface, waiting for your children to grow older and become more self-sufficient so that you have time to focus on your work again?  Or does it die from neglect, and with it, a part of your soul?  Or is that okay, because your mothering has wholly replaced your art, opening up a new world, a new person for you to be?

Local filmmaker Mary Trunk, herself a mother, has fashioned this wonderful piece of art from the trappings of motherhood itself.  As many documentaries have done, “Lost In Living” is now showing in the first of a series of local screenings, partnering with a local charity as the beneficiary of the donations collected that night.

Lost In Living Screening
Friday, February 1, at 7:00 PM
The Forum at All Saints Church
132 N. Euclid Avenue
Pasadena, CA 91101

Doors open at 6:30. Screening begins at 7. The film is one hour 50 minutes. Reception and Q & A with Director, Mary Trunk, and the women in the film after the screening.

There is available street parking and the Westin Hotel (behind the church on Los Robles) offers parking for $5. Please just mention you are attending a screening at All Saints Church.

For more information about Lost in Living, please visit Ma and Pa Films.
There is a suggested donation of $5 and all proceeds will benefit The Foster Care Project.
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FREE Movie Tickets For The Little Red Wagon

December 5, 2012 by 11 Comments

Free tickets to the first 5 commenters below.*

You know you need a break, Mom or Dad.  Short days at school.  Holiday parties for work, school, sports teams and friends.  Shopping, meal planning, Christmas-tree buying, and more and more every day.

What if you could haul your family to the Regency Theater and veg out for an hour or so while your kids watch a movie that will not rot their brains or make them want you to buy the toy that goes with it?  What if it inspired them to help others?  

Lucky for you, The Little Red Wagon is that film, and it’s playing NEXT WEEK right here at the Regency in Agoura Hills, AND I have 5 sets of tickets for my readers!

The Little Red Wagon is the story of Zach Bonner, a 12-year-old boy in Tampa, Florida who started a crusade to help children left homeless after Hurricane Charlie hit the area in 2004.  From getting food and water to very needy families, to walking from Tampa to the White House to raise awareness about homeless children, Bonner’s efforts have helped thousands upon thousands of children.  He now runs The Little Red Wagon as a nonprofit to help underprivileged kids.

The movie was produced by local filmmaker Dr. Michael Guillen, who has been making appearances at elementary schools to help spread the message that Bonner started 8 years ago.

I dare you not to cry during this movie. You’ll probably want to take a nap, but hopefully you will be moved to act, even if it’s just to take a bag of nonperishable groceries to a local food pantry to help our needy neighbors.

The first five people who comment here will win a four-pack of tickets to see the film during its limited local run December 10 – 13 at the Regency Theater in Agoura Hills. Just make sure you enter your email address so I can contact you directly and the tickets will be mailed to via priority overnight mail.

This is a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.

Filed Under: Events, Giveaways Tagged With: , , , , , ,