Compiled by Kelly Ryan
Barry Saywitz, president of Saywitz Co. in Newport Beach, hosted An Evening for Autism fundraiser at his home. The event raised $200,000 for Easter Seals Southern California, Talk About Curing Autism, the Autism Society of America and the Newport Mesa School District. Tommy Bahama Group Inc., part of Oxford Indus-tries Inc., presented the event and offered food and drinks for attendees as well as 10% off items in its retail store in Corona del Mar.
The Susan G. Komen Orange County Race for the Cure raised more than $3 million to help find a cure for breast cancer. This year 787 teams and more than 26,000 participants walked the course in Newport Beach. The highest fundraising team was Newport Cancer Care, who raised more than $48,000.
The Young Presidents’ Organization raised $1 million for local charities at its inaugural Life Changing Lives benefit. Fundraising recipients were Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County, Orangewood Children’s Foundation and Children’s Hospital of Orange County. Some auction items were tickets to the Oprah Winfrey Show, The Grammy Awards and a luxury weekend at the Resort at Pelican Hill. Skateboarder Tony Hawk and former Denver Bronco John Elway were interviewed for the event.
This year’s Rancho Mission Viejo Rodeo raised $125,000 for the R.H. Dana Exceptional Needs Facility, Camino Health Center and the J.F. Shea Center for Therapeutic Riding. Rancho Mission Viejo is the largest family-owned landholding and the oldest existing large-scale cattle ranch in Orange County.
Richard Bonadio donated $100,000 to the Alzheimer’s Association Orange County Chapter to fund the Patricia Bonadio Fund. Bonadio’s wife recently died because of Alzheimer’s disease. He has promised to raise another $150,000 to complete the fund.
Anaheim-based WinDor Inc. donated 88 windows to Olive Crest Homes and Services for Abused Children. The windows, valued at $56,000, will be used in four homes in Olive Crest’s Coachella Valley Children’s Center. The center will serve abused and at-risk teens in the area.
The ClubCorp Charity Classic golf tournament raised $26,673 to benefit the Muscular Dystrophy Association, the ClubCorp Employee Partners Care Foundation and Savannah’s Organic Ranch in Aliso Viejo.
The Wells Fargo Foundation gave $10,000 to the Santa Ana YMCA’s youth and government program.
Shulman Hodges & Bastian LLP in Foothill Ranch donated $10,000 to Habitat for Humanity and spent a day installing plumbing lines, framing roofs and painting fences. More than 50 employees from the firm volunteered to work on Habitat’s 27 homes in San Juan Capistrano.
California State University, Fullerton, business administration major Sarah Gall received a $10,000 scholarship from the Commercial Real Estate Women Network. The organization established a $100,000 scholarship program earlier this year to promote careers for women in commercial real estate. Gall is the only recipient from OC.
Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA Inc. raised $10,000 at a miniature golf fundraiser held in the hallways of its Cypress headquarters. The funds will go to the Speech and Language Development Center in Buena Park and to the Special Olympics.
Santa Ana-based Greenwald & Hoffman LLP gave $5,000 to the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana. Managing Partner Paul Greenwald and his wife Isabel have been involved with the museum for many years.
Employees from KTGY Group Inc. donated $2,200 in canned food items to the Orange County Food Bank at the “canstruction” design and build competition at South Coast Plaza. Four local Trader Joe’s stores donated $450 in canned goods. The KTGY team won an honorable mention for its design “You’ve Been Soft Served.”
St. Joseph Hospital of Orange and Access OC donated free outpatient surgeries to 16 uninsured patients. St. Joseph volunteers included 13 surgeons and assorted anesthesiologists, nurses, operating technicians, schedulers and other staff.
Twenty-five attorneys, staff members and their families from the Costa Mesa office of Snell & Wilmer LLP volunteered to clean and paint the building that houses Hands Together: a Center for Children in Santa Ana.
