MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The SKECHERS Foundation celebrated its seventh annual SKECHERS Pier to Pier Friendship Walk with a check presentation ceremony on Thursday, March 10 at the Shade Hotel in Manhattan Beach, California. The Foundation presented its largest donation totals in the history of the walk: $434,000 for The Friendship Foundation – a non-profit organization that assists children with special needs and their families – and $932,000 dedicated to six education foundations. In addition, the SKECHERS Foundation distributed $25,000 in scholarship funds to several deserving high school students. The scholars were recognized for their outstanding capabilities, their capacity to lead and serve, and their commitment to making a significant impact on their schools and communities.
“Each year we set a goal for our annual Walk,” said SKECHERS president Michael Greenberg. “And this year we set our highest goal yet $1.2 million. When we surpassed our goal and reached a record high of $1.4 million, I was ecstatic with the success and knowing that we could have an even greater impact this year on children with special needs and public education. Our corporate sponsors, celebrity ambassadors, community leaders and dedicated walkers make this all possible. Their support helps to create a better future for our children, and their spirit of giving continues to grow and meet their needs.”
The Friendship Foundation (www.friendshipfoundation.com) unites children with special needs and teen volunteers through one-on-one peer mentoring and social recreational activities, creating emotional bonds that improve the lives of kids and their families. “The generous donations from the SKECHERS Foundation have funded the growth of our organization,” said Yossi Mintz, Executive Director of Friendship Foundation. “We have programs running six days a week, including 28 school clubs in ten school districts. This past year we accumulated over 11,000 volunteer hours and have 56 unique programs including Camp Got Friends – a two-week summer day camp that serves 110 children with special needs. The continued support from SKECHERS over the past seven years has been instrumental to our success.”
In addition to supporting the Friendship Foundation, the Walk provides funding for public education. “The SKECHERS Friendship Walk helps support positions and programs that are essential to a high quality education,” said Carolyn Niman, Executive Director of the Peninsula Education Foundation. “We can hire more counselors and teachers, and now receive crucial funds for elementary PE, music and library staff, as well as our award-winning STEM program which incorporates hands-on projects in order to help kids learn engineering concepts.”
The SKECHERS Pier to Pier Friendship Walk has become California’s largest charity event supporting children with special needs and education. Since its inception in 2009, the Walk has united over 54,000 participants and raised over $5.5 million to support The Friendship Foundation and education foundations committed to saving teachers’ jobs, retaining vital academic programs, maintaining smaller class sizes, improving libraries and upgrading school technology. In 2015 alone, more than 13,000 attended the Walk, along with numerous celebrities such as model and entrepreneur Brooke Burke-Charvet, legendary boxer Sugar Ray Leonard and fitness enthusiast Denise Austin.
In addition to headlining sponsor Nickelodeon, the SKECHERS Pier to Pier Friendship Walk thanks its sponsors that include: Wells Fargo, Steel Sports, South Bay Vein and Laser Group, The Claudette and Ethan Rickett Care Foundation, Ross, Zappos.com, Tour de Pier, DIRECTV, Body Glove, Kids Foot Locker, United Legwear, JAKKS Pacific, Marshalls, Cushman & Wakefield, Caskey & Caskey, Siltanen & Partners Advertising, Continental Development, Northrop Grumman, Equinox, Mattel, Chevron, and many others who have given funds and support to provide a better future for children.
ABOUT SKECHERS Foundation
The SKECHERS Foundation was established to provide families around the world with the necessities and skills to succeed in life. In addition to organizing the SKECHERS Pier to Pier Friendship Walk, the SKECHERS Foundation funds tax-exempt, 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations that provide education and job training, shoes, clothing, fitness and nutrition guidance to communities in need.
About SKECHERS USA, Inc.
SKECHERS USA, Inc., based in Manhattan Beach, California, designs, develops and markets a diverse range of lifestyle footwear for men, women and children, as well as performance footwear for men and women. SKECHERS footwear is available in the United States and over 160 countries and territories worldwide via department and specialty stores, more than 1,340 SKECHERS retail stores, and the Company’s e-commerce website. The Company manages its international business through a network of global distributors, joint venture partners in Asia, and 13 wholly-owned subsidiaries in Brazil, Canada, Chile, Japan, Latin America and throughout Europe. For more information, please visit skechers.com and follow us on Facebook (facebook.com/SKECHERS) and Twitter (twitter.com/SKECHERSUSA).
This announcement contains forward-looking statements that are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, the Company’s future domestic and international growth, financial results and operations including expected net sales and earnings, its development of new products, future demand for its products, its planned domestic and international expansion and opening of new stores, the completion of the expansion and upgrade of the Company’s European distribution center, and advertising and marketing initiatives. Forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking language such as “believe,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “estimate,” “intend,” “plan,” “project,” “will be,” “will continue,” “will result,” “could,” “may,” “might,” or any variations of such words with similar meanings. Any such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in forward-looking statements. Factors that might cause or contribute to such differences include international economic, political and market conditions including the uncertainty of sustained recovery in Europe; entry into the highly competitive performance footwear market; sustaining, managing and forecasting costs and proper inventory levels; losing any significant customers; decreased demand by industry retailers and cancellation of order commitments due to the lack of popularity of particular designs and/or categories of products; maintaining brand image and intense competition among sellers of footwear for consumers; anticipating, identifying, interpreting or forecasting changes in fashion trends, consumer demand for the products and the various market factors described above; sales levels during the spring, back-to-school and holiday selling seasons; and other factors referenced or incorporated by reference in the Company’s annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2015. The risks included here are not exhaustive. The Company operates in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time and the companies cannot predict all such risk factors, nor can the companies assess the impact of all such risk factors on their respective businesses or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements. Given these risks and uncertainties, you should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as a prediction of actual results. Moreover, reported results should not be considered an indication of future performance.
