By London Foster
Staff Writer
Friendship Circle is taking America’s most recent Thanksgiving trend, Friendsgiving, and is using it to gather and celebrate with their ‘chosen family’ and give thanks for the friends they have meet in club.
Friendship Circle hosted their third annual Friendsgiving at the King’s Harbor Church, from 6-8 pm on Thursday, Nov 19. Seventy members joined together to celebrate Friendsgiving with Costa’s largest club.
“We have an awesome and rapidly growing community here at Friendship Circle,” School Programs Coordinator Malorie Askanas-Graul said. “We all love doing activities together and celebrating Thanksgiving is one of those activities. It gives us an opportunity to get together, eat good food and celebrate one another.”
Friendship Circle of the South Bay is a non-profit organization that helps makes a difference in the lives of kids who have special needs. Friendship Circle offers a variety of programs at homes, in the community and at schools. These programs help strengthen the bonds that the kids build and help them practice their social skills, just like Friendsgiving.
“We host it so that all the kids can get together and have a nice dinner and potluck,” Co-Club President Leah Fox said. “Like all of the outside events and programs, it helps them fit in and feel like they are a part of everyone.”
Friendsgiving reached out to Friendship Circle kids all over the South Bay via club meetings. Many other districts like El Segundo, Hermosa, Centinela, Lawndale, Palos Verdes Peninsula, Redondo Beach, Torrance, and Wiseburn also participated.
“The invitation is extended to all of our Friendship Circle kids and volunteers,” Askanas-Graul said. “Anyone is welcome to join and get involved.”
Every year Friendsgiving has many activities, including an annual pie eating contest that sprouted from them having too much leftover pie the first year.
“Our kids look forward to the pie eating contest every year, it’s really a lot of fun,” Askanas-Graul said. “We have great results every year and we want to continue doing it.”
Friendship Circle hosts programs six days a week, year round. Friendsgiving is just one event that Friendship Circle offers to their volunteers and kids.
“We have 28 Friendship Circle school clubs, so we get volunteers from all throughout the South Bay,” Askanas-Graul said. “Friendsgiving just gives us an opportunity to spend time with one another during the holidays.”
According to the Got Friends website, Friendship Circle celebrates the kids’ uniqueness and individuality to bring them joy and companionship. Friendship Circle allows participants to build connections with others
“We help to expose our kids and volunteers to new experiences with all of our programs and maximize their potential through these opportunities,” Askanas-Graul said. “When you’re involved and get to know everyone you see that there’s always something you can learn from one another.”
Costa students from all grades participate in Friendship Circle and join together every Tuesday and Thursday in room 115 to interact with the kids in the club. Their goal is to continue providing more social opportunities to special needs kids for years to come.
“Friendship Circle was created to support kids with special needs and help them interact with other kids and make new friends,” Fox said. “It’s great because it makes them feel more of a part of everything.”
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