Community News

Beach Walk

Join The Children’s Clinic during the Saturday, Sept. 28, Beach Walk and Celebrate Families Festival. Community members and local non-profit organizations are invited and encourage to attend. It will be held at Shoreline Aquatic Park, 200 Aquarium Way, 8 a.m. to noon.

Last year, more than 400 Long Beach residents and community members from surrounding cities participated in the Beach Walk. During this year’s event, participants will enjoy a 5K walk around Shoreline Aquatic Park and an interactive art activity hosted by City HeArt, a Long Beach based non-profit that focuses on bringing awareness to social issues using art.

By participating in Beach Walk, community members are helping to raise critically needed funds for the continuation of primary and comprehensive healthcare and wellness services to children, teens, adults, seniors and underserved communities.

Beach Walk participants can register for the walk by visiting beachwalk.tccfamilyhealth.org or in person the day of the event. Children under 12 years of age are free. The Beach Walk will conclude with a free Celebrate Families Festival at 10 a.m. and a free multi-cultural lunch.

Attendees will enjoy music, fitness demonstrations, youth performances, family-friendly activities and more. The festival will also showcase over 30 community organizations who will share their multi-linguistic and culturally competent resources for the diverse families in Long Beach.

READY Expo

The sixth annual READY Long Beach Community Preparedness Expo will take place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28, at the Walter Pyramid on the CSULB campus.

This free event is sponsored by Long Beach CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) in partnership with the Long Beach Fire Department, various city departments, CSULB, local businesses, sponsors and other disaster response agencies.

The expo will feature information booths, emergency preparedness demonstrations, emergency supplies for purchase, a kids’ fun zone, food for purchase and multiple displays of emergency response equipment. Complimentary parking is available on campus in the parking structure off Merriam Way, south of Atherton Street.

‘Artifishal’ at the Art

On Sept. 29 join the Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust for the 4th Annual Sustainable Sunday Cinema at the historic Art Theatre for a mixer and screening of the critically acclaimed film Artifishal.

Doors open at 10:30 a.m. Come early and mingle with partnering organizations Long Beach Environmental Alliance, Friends of Colorado Lagoon and Orange County Coastkeeper. The film begins at 11 a.m. Advance tickets $10+processing or $12 at the door. Purchase tickets at https://lcwlandtrust.org.

“Artifishal” is a film about people, rivers and the fight for the future of wild fish and the environment that supports them. It explores wild salmon’s slide towards extinction, threats posed by fish hatcheries and fish farms and our continued loss of faith in nature.

Directly following the screening, attendees are invited to stay and hear from Colin Kelly, senior staff attorney for Orange County Coastkeeper. He will update us on our own local marine ecosystems and threats due to proposed aquaculture off our local coastline.

Chefs to the Rescue

Food Finders, a 30-year-old nonprofit focused on Food Recovery is hosting its 4th Annual “Chefs to the Rescue” fundraiser on Tuesday, Oct. 1, 6-9 p.m. at the Golden Sails Hotel located at 6285 E. Pacific Coast Hwy.

This unique, food-centric event challenges prominent local chefs to create “Edible Extras,” tasting samples and small plates made from perfectly edible recovered or repurposed food that might otherwise end up being tossed away.

Tickets are $60 per guest and are available for advance purchase through the Food Finders website: http://www.foodfinders.org/event/chefs-to-the-rescue. Tickets are limited and expected to sell out quickly.

Barktoberfest

Raise a mug and help animals! Barktoberfest is a series of fundraisers at breweries around Los Angeles with the local event at the dog-friendly patio at Rasselbock German Kitchen & Beer Garden, 4020 Atlantic Ave., on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 5-10 p.m.

Fifteen percent of proceeds benefit spcaLA. For more information visit www.spcaLA.com.

Social Security?

Did you know that since 1935, Social Security is the one pension system that has continuously provided pensions for millions of Americans? But by 2035, if the Congress does not increase funding, the Social Security Trust Fund will only be able to pay 80 percent of your earned benefits.

Learn more at the Oct. 5 American Association of University Women meeting and program to be held at Long Beach City College, 4901 E. Carson St., Building O-2, Room 208 starting at 9:30 a.m. with program at 11 a.m. Cost is $25 for lunch or $5 for meeting/program only. Use PayPal account aauwlongbeach@gmail.com or epmathis@verizon.net.

In an AARP survey, fewer than 25 percent of those surveyed knew their full retirement age (depends on your date of birth), 70 percent thought they would be eligible to receive full benefits sooner and 40 percent were unaware of survivor benefits.

Craft Fair

The Trinity United Methodist Church Craft Fair will be on Oct. 5, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 5730 South St., Lakewood.

Enjoy some baked goods and drinks while getting an early start on your holiday shopping.

Sea Level Rise

The Aquarium of the Pacific will host a free community event on Oct. 7, bringing scientists and researchers together to discuss coping with sea level rise with a focus on Long Beach’s Peninsula, Naples and Belmont Shore. The event, cosponsored by the aquarium and The Nature Conservancy, will be held in the Aquarium’s Ocean Theater, 7-9 p.m.

This presentation is part of an ongoing program on responding to sea level rise led by the aquarium in partnership with The Nature Conservancy and the ArtCenter College of Design. Experts on the panel will include both local and international scholars, with two of the speakers coming from France’s University of Montpellier.

The event’s speakers are Dr. Gary Griggs, distinguished professor of Earth sciences at the University of California, Santa Cruz; Dr. Sylvain Barone, researcher in public policy at the University of Montpellier’s National Research Institute of Science and Technology for Environment and Agriculture; and Laura Michel, lecturer in political science and researcher at the University of Montpellier’s Center for Political Science and Sociology.

For more information or to reserve your seat to attend, please visit aquariumofpacific.org/events.

Health Fair

American University of Health Sciences invites you to our upcoming event: 7th Annual Health and Wellness Fair on Oct. 19, at 1600 E. Hill St. from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

The program consists of free health screenings, free flu shots, free medicine reviews and groceries, kids’ activities, entertainment and more.

Info: (562) 988-2278, Ext. 2048.

Hunger Walk

Although they have been happening in the Long Beach area since 1976, this year’s Long Beach Hunger Walk on Sunday, Oct. 20, 1:30 p.m. at Grace First Presbyterian Church, 3955 Studebaker Road, marks a special milestone.

This year marks the 50th Anniversary (nationally) of this particular form of fundraising activity. Even though it took until 1976 for Long Beach to “join the bandwagon” they are proud to celebrate the 50-year recognition of this tradition, from which many other similar walks have evolved.

In its 44 consecutive years of operation, the Long Beach event has raised over $723,000 for these programs all over the world. Both a free lunch and registration will begin at 1:30 p.m. The level walk route is just 3K, starts at 2:30 and takes most walkers only about one hour to complete.

The people benefited by the walk are in need anywhere on the planet. Five local charities also benefit, including Lutheran Social Services, Su Casa Family Crisis & Support Center, Urban Community Outreach, Catholic Charities and Christian Outreach in Action. The official sponsor of the Walk is the South Coast Interfaith Council.

Anyone in the Long Beach area of any age is welcome to participate in this event by using online registration at www.crophungerwalk.org/LongBeachCA.

Participants also are encouraged to bring canned goods and other imperishable food items to the event, which will be distributed to the needy in Lakewood by the First Methodist Church.

For further information please contact Walk Chair Rev. Dale Whitney at (562) 433-3881.