First Ever Walk4Friendship Montreal!

MONTREAL [CHI] — Imagine a small town, all within the confines of four walls, where all of Montreal’s children with special needs can practice basic life skills—shopping for groceries, counting change, paying bills at the bank.

Now imagine hundreds of people walking together to make this happen.

That’s what happened last Sunday at Friendship Circle Montreal’s first ever Walk4Friendship. Children with special needs along with hundreds of family members and friends raised over $100,000 in their walk through Côte Saint-Luc’s Trudeau Park. Walk4Friendhsip helped spread much needed public awareness about children with special needs. The Walk also raised much needed funds for The Friendship Circle.

City Officials, Executive staff and the top 10 fundraisers took part in the opening ribbon-cutting ceremonies. The afternoon was filled with fun and entertainment for the whole family, featuring “The Pogo Dudes,” a fabulous group doing unbelievable stunts on pogo sticks.

The Friendship Circle, started 9 years ago by Rabbi Yosef Paris and his wife Sima, has brought together more than 650 high school and university volunteers with children with special needs, providing them recreational, social and educational programs as well as summer and winter camps. It is funded fully by donations. The organization is in the midst of an $8 million campaign to build the future Friendship Centre and LifeTown, a 26,000 square foot realistic town setting that will offer a unique educational opportunity for special needs to acquire real life skills. Construction is in full swing with Phase One

For more information, check out www.montrealwalk4friendship.com and www.friendshipcircle.ca. Or contact Rabbi Dovid Russ (514) 735-2255