Team Charm spent a sunshine-filled day at The Rose Bowl last weekend participating in The Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern California’s annual Walk for the Kids.
RMHCSC’s Walk for Kids fundraiser supports families across Southern California who must travel outside of their communities to access long-term medical treatment at local hospitals for their children. Walk for Kids creates a community where children and their families embrace life and healing with a sense of hope, enthusiasm, courage, and joy.
As soon as we arrived, we sped-walked over to the delicious food trucks and grabbed ourselves a bite to eat and a very necessary cup of McDonald’s coffee (iced, of course)! With our coffees in hand we said hello to friends and familiar faces, wandered around the interactive booths, and had the chance to meet some of the families that were being sponsored in the walk.
There was no shortage of entertainment. We spent time oooh-ing and ahhh-ing over the mini-therapy horses, listening to live music, getting airbrush tattoos, and being mesmerized by the balloon artists.
After our fair share of fun, we geared up for the walk with lots of sunscreen and stretching. We lined up at the start line promptly at 9:30am and received a royal send-off from the Los Angeles Ram’s and King’s mascots. They pumped us up and cheered us on from the sidelines as we started our 3-mile journey.
Throughout the walk, we received constant encouragement from the Pasadena Fire Department, who made laps around the 3-mile loop, sharing words of encouragement to all the walkers. There were also water stations set up at different lengths of the loop to keep us hydrated and offer high-fives along the way. But the best motivation? All the adorable puppies that participated as well.
By the end of the walk, we felt incredibly connected to the community and proud that so many people had come out to support an amazing cause. If you didn’t have a chance to participate this year, mark your calendars now for 2023. It’s a wonderfully coordinated community event that means so much to the family’s it supports.
If you’re interested, you can still donate to “TEAM CHARM.”
Xx,
Taryn
