Friendship Circle hosts annual Disneyland trip, car wash

Anna Real
Staff Writer

The Friendship Circle will be having its annual Disneyland Trip on March 19 and a car wash fundraising competition between the Mira Costa Friendship Circle club and the Redondo Friendship Circle club at the Friendship Circle headquarters in Redondo sometime in March.

“I love the Friendship Circle because of the friends I’ve made there,” Friendship Circle co-president Adam Fox said. “The Friendship Circle kids are so great and very special and I love them all.”

The Friendship Circle presidents have been meeting daily and organizing the Disneyland trip with Friendship Circle South Bay, who funds the majority of the trip.

“The purpose of the trip is to take the kids to a place that they enjoy and to have a good time,” co-president Michael Holiday said. “It also allows the kids to use basic life skills that they’ve been learning all year and put them to use in a real life setting.”

Each special needs student is paired up with a buddy, so the pairs are able to roam the park together.

Volunteers gain the opportunity to go on the trip if they show up to most of the Friendship Circle meetings. The Friendship Circle will be taking one bus to Disneyland and has an estimated amount of 10 special education students and 20 other students.

“I went last year and it was a really fun activity that the kids look forward to every year,” sophomore Frances Caflish said. “It is a great bonding experience and helps the kids who don’t socialize as much meet new people. It’s a chance for them to relax and have a lot of fun.”

The Friendship Circle students will also be hosting a fundraising competition against the Redondo Friendship Circle. The fundraiser is a car wash that will help the Friendship Circle with funding activities like Manhattan Beach Youth Basketball, holiday parties, class trips, and karate lessons.

“As you go through the club with these kids and go to these activities with them, you find that they are just like everyone else,” Fox said. “These events help the Friendship Circle students become more confident.”