Paul Zuanich of Huntington Beach worked the docks in the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach for years.
It was hard work.
But now 65 and retired from the docks, he’s embarked on a new mission: that of an ambassador on an electric bike, riding from the southern border of Canada to Southern California — to reach an ambitious goal to help cure childhood cancer.
It’s a 1,750 mile, 38-day electric bicycle ride from the U.S.-Canada border through every West Coast ILWU port. Zuanich’s trip began at on June 4 and will end in San Pedro on Saturday, July 5.
“I’ve watched how he can connect,” said Dan Imbagliazzo, the delegate from the International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s Local 13 who, in 2011, spearheaded an annual ILWU fundraiser to benefit a major cancer-fighting organization and traveled with Zuanich on the first leg of his journey. “He can connect — he goes into dispatch halls, he’s asking questions, he connects with people.”
David Porter, President ILWU Local 98, Columbia River, escorting Paul Zuanich of Huntington Beach into town. (Photo Courtesy of ILWU Walk the Coast Committee) David Porter, President ILWU Local 98, Columbia River, center, poses with Paul Zuanich, at right. (Photo Courtesy of ILWU Walk the Coast Committee) Show Caption1 of 2David Porter, President ILWU Local 98, Columbia River, escorting Paul Zuanich of Huntington Beach into town. (Photo Courtesy of ILWU Walk the Coast Committee) ExpandAnd Zuanich counts it all as a joy.
“I’m grateful for something I can do to show my gratitude,” Zuanich said about his new mission, which will bring him to the end of his fundraising journey when he rides into the ILWU Memorial Hall, in Wilmington, at noon on Saturday.
Zuanich, who was raised in the South Bay, has undertaken the bike ride as part of the ILWU’s annual campaign to benefit Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation.
The union’s connection with Alex’s Lemonade Stand effort began in 2011 when Imbagliazzo was a Local 13 (Los Angeles-Long Beach) delegate for ILWU’s meeting with all of its West Coast chapters.
A resolution he presented at that meeting called for ILWU to engage in a charitable effort that would “do something good for others, unite the union and let the community know about the goodness of organized labor.”
It passed the following year. The union then learned about Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, which was started by the generosity of a child, Alexandra “Alex” Scott, who was born on Jan. 18, 1996, in Manchester, Connecticut.
Shortly before her first birthday, Alex was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a rare childhood cancer. The prognosis was not encouraging.
In 2000, at 4 years old, Alex told her parents, Liz and Jay Scott, that she wanted to have a lemonade stand in the front yard to raise money — “so I can help other children,” Imbagliazzo said, relaying the story. The money would to go to the hospital that was treating her.
With the help of her older brother, Alex raised more than $2,000 that day. Few would guess how far it would go.The annual lemonade stands continued and, as word spread, others began sponsoring lemonade stands to donate proceeds to Alex and her cause.
Alex died in 2004 at just 8 years old. In her short life, she had raised $1 million to help find a cure for childhood cancer.
But that wasn’t the end of her story.
The foundation she and her family created, in fact, has raised $300 million since Alex’s first lemonade stand, making it the largest independent childhood cancer charity in the country, according to the organization’s website. It supports cancer research projects and various programs that help families cover costs so their children can get access to needed cancer treatments.
And when Imbagliazzo and other union members read about the foundation, the course was clear. They’d found their cause.
Since the union approved Imbagliazzo’s resolution, ILWU has organized various fundraisers to benefit the foundation. The union hit the $1 million mark in 2022. And while it’s too early to know how much Zuanich’s bike ride will raise, Imbagliazzo estimated it could bring in around $20,000.
The bike ride was actually supposed to happen years ago — with Zuanich set for the undertaking. But then came the pandemic.
“In 2019, we were going to do this; Paul had volunteered to do the ride,” Imbagliazzo said. “But then COVID hit and we couldn’t do it and we had to cancel. So at the beginning of 2025, I called and he said yes, so we got our schedules ready.”
Zuanich began the ride on June 4 at Peace Park at the U.S.-Canadian border and has since made his way through every ILWU port: Bellingham, Anacortes, Everett, Port Angeles, Port Gamble, Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Aberdeen, Astoria, Longview, Vancouver, Portland, Newport, North Bend, Eureka, Sacramento, Stockton, San Francisco and Port Hueneme. The adventure will finally end at the ILWU’s Bloody Thursday Memorial Picnic on Saturday in San Pedro.
(Bloody Thursday commemorates those who died during the West Coast waterfront strikes 91 years ago, particularly San Pedro High School graduate Dickie Parker and Lomita resident John Knudsen, who were killed when they joined a group that confronted replacement workers on the Wilmington docks on May 14, 1934. The strikes led to the ILWU’s creation.)
Zuanich said the effort has helped him show his gratitude and shine a light on “the goodness of the labor community.”
A father and grandfather, Zuanich has met several cancer survivors along the way, and carries their stories and ongoing efforts with him now in the campaign’s overall fundraising efforts.
“I’ve made lifelong friends,” Zuanich said about the journey.
He has been traveling roughly 100 miles a day. He’ll arrive in the South Bay and be greeted along Pacific Coast Highway on Friday, July 4.
Union locals and industry companies have worked together to make it all happen, Imbagliazzo said, including the recent support of incoming Pacific Maritime Association President and CEO Stephen Hennessey.
“The union has certain capabilities the employers do not and the employers have strengths we do not,” Imbagliazzo said of the partnership.
This year, for the first time, he said, the union connected with PMA asking for participation — and Hennessey agreed to donate $10,000 directly to the charity.
But in the beginning, Imbagliazzo said, the key support came when Liz Scott — Alex’s mom — came to L.A. to help launch the ILWU’s initial effort.
“The San Pedro High Marching Band came in and my knees were shaking,” Imbagliazzo said in a telephone interview this week. “I told her, ‘I don’t know how this is going to turn out.’”
But Liz Scott, Imbagliazzo said, reassured him, saying: “This one’s going to be special.”
To contribute to the campaign, go to alexslemonade.org/campaign/ilwu-walk-coast.
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