by Noella Noelophile®
“I love your shoes!” is not an uncommon sentiment.
But in Long Beach, Justin Rudd’s nonprofit Community Action Team is, once again, getting ready to take that statement to the next level.
Their seventh annual “Red High Heels Walk” happens on Saturday, February 18th in Belmont Shore–and you’re invited!
Every February, for Heart Health Month, Community Action Team encourages walkers to participate in this free event. Walkers who show up wearing red shoes–high heels or otherwise–raise money for charity by completing a one-mile walk down Belmont Shore’s Second Street. In the process, they also raise awareness of heart health.
(What’s nice is, for every walker who registers and completes the route, Community Action Team donates money to charity. So no one has to approach friends and family with a sign-up sheet and a “can-you-sponsor-me” request!)
In addition to being a great cause, the “Red High Heels Walk” is a whole lot of fun. Walkers start off across a 100-foot red carpet, go up one side of Second Street and down another, past the shops and stores of this community just blocks from the beach.
Heart health signs and slogans are encouraged. Men, women and children of all ages are welcome, and groups of 20 members or more can raise money for their charity or organization! (However, according to the event page, each member of the group needs to be registered online no later than 8 pm on Friday, February 17th. Please check this link for additional details.)
To participate, walkers need both to register online, and sign in at the starting point, Livingston Park, no later than 11:45 a.m. on the 18th.
The walk begins at noon, and lasts about forty minutes. However, participants do need to be checked in onsite, in order to have their participation “count” for a charitable donation. Onsite check-in starts at 11:30 that morning at the park. 
So, check in, receive a number and you’re set! (You may want to allow “buffer time” in case of Saturday-morning traffic.)
Regarding footwear? Your shoes don’t have to be high heels–as long as they’re at least “seventy-five percent red”.
Don’t have red shoes? Spray-painting a pair you do have red, is acceptable. Red tape? “OK, but discouraged”, says the event website.
Approximately 300 participants walked in last year’s “Red High Heels Walk”, and you’re encouraged to pass the word and see if we can beat that number this year! 
Please share this information on your social media if you can.
Justin Rudd’s Community Action Team’s seventh annual “Walk in Red High Heels”, to raise heart-health awareness, happens Saturday, February 18th at noon on Second Street in Long Beach’s Belmont Shore. This is a free, one-mile walk, along the sidewalks of Second Street. Participants are requested to wear either red high heels or any red shoes; here are guidelines.
Register online to participate. Groups (of 20 or more) may walk to raise money for their organizations, and are requested to register online no later than 8 pm on Friday, February 17th. Saturday-morning onsite check-in begins at 11:30, at Livingston Park, 220 Park Avenue at Livingston Drive. Participants must be checked in, and wearing their red shoes, by 11:45 sharp.