{"id":240186,"date":"2026-04-21T11:03:07","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T11:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/240186\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T11:03:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T11:03:07","slug":"south-florida-friendship-walk-brings-community-together-to-celebrate-inclusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/240186\/","title":{"rendered":"South Florida friendship walk brings community together to celebrate inclusion"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a joyful celebration where people of all abilities come together, united by friendship.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Zachary Sanabria, 17, along with hundreds of participants and their buddies, took part in the 17th annual Walking for Friendship event.<\/p>\n

Sanabria was having a blast with his friends at the event.<\/p>\n

“Awesome,” Sanabria exclaimed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

High School senior Hayden Jellson is Sanabria’s Friendship Circle<\/a> buddy. They’ve been paired for four years, and their bond has grown stronger over time.<\/p>\n

“I see him at school, every single day, he goes to the same school as me, so we have a real relationship and a real bond we’ve created thanks to Friendship Circle, that’s the best part,” said Jellson.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sofia Martinez has also volunteered with the group for years and now serves as a buddy with Dexter Klein, an experience she says has been just as rewarding for her.<\/p>\n

“He’s just an amazing person. I just love him,” said Martinez.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I think it’s important to feel included, and everyone be together,” said 21-year-old Dexter Klein.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Walking for Friendship event brings the community together in celebration of inclusion. Co-director Nechama Harling showed CBS Miami the Friendship Circle facility, a space designed for connection, creativity, and growth.<\/p>\n

“The reaction has been incredibly heartwarming. We’re the only campus in this community that has a facility like this, with a fun zone, music room, art room, sensory room, a cooking studio, a movement studio, a life skills room,” said Friendship Circle Co-director, Nechama Harling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Friendship Circle of Miami<\/a> creates meaningful connections through programs and events that foster inclusion, belonging, and genuine human connection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Since its founding, Friendship Circle has engaged over 14,000 teen volunteers and served more than 7,500 individuals with special needs and it’s about friendship, real, genuine friendship.<\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s a joyful celebration where people of all abilities come together, united by friendship.\u00a0 Zachary Sanabria, 17, along…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":240187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[506,123,125,124,1064,807],"class_list":["post-240186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-miami","tag-broward-county","tag-miami","tag-miami-headlines","tag-miami-news","tag-miami-dade","tag-south-florida"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=240186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/240186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/240187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=240186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=240186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=240186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}