Men of Character
The 2018 Men of Character dinner was held on April 19 at the Irvine Marriott by the Boy Scouts of America, Orange County Council. Nearly 400 community and business leaders came together to honor six Orange County businessmen, raising $158,000 to bring scouting programs to the youth of Orange County while highlighting the importance of character.
This year’s honorees were Jeff McBride, executive director of YMCA of Orange County; Curtis Reese, chief executive of LePont Healthcare; John Rochford, chairman and chief executive of Snyder Langston; Christopher Wesierski, founder of Wesierski & Zurek LLP; Burton Young, president and co-founder of Sperry Equities and Sperry Commercial Global Affiliates; and Paul Lange, retired California State University-Fresno professor.
Event sponsors included Snyder Langston, Brightview, Silverline Construction Inc., Western National Group, ACCO, Bolton & Co., Fort Ashford Ventures, HomeStreet Bank, Klorman Construction, Lyndon Group, Murray Co., Sperry Equities, Wells Fargo and Wesierski & Zurek.
In This Together
More than 300 business and community leaders gathered on April 26 to share their support of THINK Together at the nonprofit group’s 21st annual Raise a Hand Gala. The event, which was at AV Irvine, raised more than $375,000 to benefit the organization’s educational support programs for children and youth from low-income families.
Event supporters included Medtronic, BNY Mellon Wealth Management, Orion Property Partners, Pacific Life, Nichols & Meeks LLP, South Coast Plaza, the Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Chargers, Anaheim Ducks, Fletcher Jones Motorcars and Hollencrest Capital Management.
“We are beyond grateful to our dedicated donors and supporters who believe in our goal of educational equity and excellence for all kids,” said Think Together founder and Chief Executive Randy Barth. “Through their support, we look forward to partnering with even more schools to take kids from just beating the odds, to fundamentally changing the odds for years to come.”
Glamour and Giving
WHW, which provides unemployed and underemployed people the skills and resources to get and keep good jobs, hosted 370 supporters, volunteers and community members at its annual luncheon and fashion show. The April 7 event at Pasea Hotel & Spa in Huntington Beach raised more than $225,000. Sponsors included Capital Group, 24 Hour Home Care, Antis Roofing & Waterproofing, The Bascom Group, First Bank, UPS, US Bank and Wells Fargo.
With the theme of old-Hollywood style and elegance, the event featured silent and live auctions, a gourmet luncheon, an inspiring presentation from a WHW job seeker, and a movie-inspired, black-and-white fashion show with fashions from WHW’s retail store, Deja New.
“WHW is absolutely thrilled that our annual luncheon and fashion show raised over $225,000 to support the employment readiness programs offered at WHW,” said company Chief Executive Janie Best. “Due to the generosity of many, many sponsors and donors, over 80% of WHW job seekers will get and keep a good job. And that’s the best part of the whole day.”
That’s the Spirit
OneOC celebrated 60 years serving Orange County on April 26 at the 2018 Spirit of Volunteerism Awards luncheon. The event, at Disneyland Hotel and attended by more than 1,000 community, business and philanthropic leaders, highlighted the way volunteerism has shaped the Orange County community over the past six decades. The awards also honored 359 community volunteers of 95 nonprofits and 30 companies.
The 2018 Giving is Living Award was presented to Pacific Investment Management Co. and Orange County Food Bank for 10-year partnership Share the Harvest. The collaboration has contributed more than 2 million meals to the underserved in Orange County.
Antis Roofing & Waterproofing, Cox, Experian, Mazda, PIMCO, Taco Bell, Union Bank and Western Digital were among the event sponsors.
Bits & Pieces
Irvine-based Families Forward raised $128,000 to help homeless families at the annual Help Them Home online fundraising event, including a $25,000 matching grant from Pacific Premier Bank. … More than 700 people participated in Wells of Life’s fourth annual Run4Water fundraiser held in conjunction with Earth Day on April 22 at Laguna Niguel Regional Park, raising more than $30,000 to fund 40 sustainable water wells for rural communities in Uganda. … On May 8, Citrix Systems hosted students from Think Together to work with Citrix employees to assemble 1,000 hands-on STEM education kits while learning to build, program and battle robots during the annual Battle Bots competition at the software company’s annual Synergy Conference.
