Newport Beach-based Orange County Community Foundation awarded $28.9 million for its 2011 fiscal year, a 30% increase over 2010.
The foundation helps donors make charitable contributions and manages donor-advised funds. It announced its results at the Island Hotel at the foundation’s annual meeting. About 450 guests attended, including philanthropists, volunteers and business and community leaders.
Awards were presented to three honorees:
n Wing Lam, cofounder of Santa Ana-based Wahoo’s Fish Taco, was honored for his work as an advocate for children’s and environmental causes in Orange County. Lam is a board member of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation’s Orange County chapter in Irvine, the San Clemente-based Surfrider Foundation and the Mustard Seed Ranch in San Juan Capistrano.
n Disneyland Resort was honored for its philanthropy through its VoluntEARS Community Fund, which awards grants of up to $5,000 each year to local nonprofits such as Tustin-based Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County, Costa Mesa-based Working Wardrobes and the Boys and Girls Club of Anaheim. Disneyland Resort’s President George Kalogridis was on hand to accept the award.
n Gwyn Parry was honored for his work as director of community medicine at Newport Beach-based Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.
Orange County Community Foundation President Shelley Hoss hosted the event along with the foundation’s board Chairman Timothy Kay, a partner at the Costa Mesa-based office of Snell & Wilmer LLP.
Irvine-based Kay Family Foundation is donating $5 million to Chapman University in Orange. $4 million will go to equip the university’s proposed $64 million Center for the Arts with streaming and other technological capabilities.
“Just imagine if we could present our Economic Forecast to an audience here in Orange County while simulcasting it live to our MBA students in Prague,” said James Doti, president of Chapman University.
“That’s an exciting possibility,” he said.
The designation of the other $1 million is yet to be determined.
Kay Family Foundation was founded by Steeve Kay, cofounder of Diamond Bar-based QTC Management Inc., which provides medical evaluations for the federal government. The company was acquired in 2011 by Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin Corp.
Newport Beach-based Armenian EyeCare Project’s annual fundraising gala, held at the Balboa Bay Club and Resort in Newport Beach, raised almost $200,000.
The money will go toward purchasing medical equipment and training doctors in Yerevan, Armenia’s capital. The funds also support the Armenian EyeCare Project’s mobile eye hospital, which offers treatment for needy Armenians.
Almost 250 people attended, including former state Gov. George Deukmejian, who served as governor from January 1983 to January 1991, and his wife Gloria.
Deukmejian received the organization’s Lifetime Humanitarian of the Year Award. The group’s founder and Chairman Roger Ohanesian presented the award, alongside past recipients, Aram Bassenian and Kenneth Khachigian.
Some of the silent and live auction items included a trip to Armenia during the Armenian EyeCare Project’s next medical mission and travel packages such as a New York City weekend getaway and a Paris vacation.
Ohanesian started the Armenian EyeCare Project in 1992 after the Armenian health minister asked for help in fighting blindness in Armenia. In 2010 the group launched an initiative to prevent blindness in infants.
Costa Mesa-based Vital Link won a $25,000 grant from the Piscataway, N.J.-based Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Foundation and a $20,000 grant from Los Angeles-based Southern California Gas Co., a subsidiary of San Diego-based Sempra Energy.
Vital Link helps high school students identify and explore career options. The funds will be used for Vital Link’s Perfor-mance Engineering Competition, part of a career showcase for students interested in science, math and digital arts. The event will be held at the OC Fair & Event Center’s Youth Expo in Costa Mesa, April 13-15.
Irvine-based Monarch HealthCare is donating $20,000 to be the presenting sponsor for Laguna Woods-based Age Well Senior Services’ Captain’s Ball fundraiser March 3.
Age Well Senior Services will hold its annual gala at The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel. The theme this year is: Big Wheels Drive Meals, which will highlight the organization’s role as the Meals on Wheels provider for South Orange County.
In 2010 Age Well Senior Services provided more than 500,000 meals to seniors living at home.
Lake Forest-based shoe company Sole Technology held its annual holiday festival and shoe donation at the company’s Etnies Skatepark.
Chief Executive Pierre-André Senizergues was there to welcome 600 kids, each of whom received a new pair of Etnies shoes. Also there were Etnies skateboard team riders, which included Devine Calloway, Andrew Brophy, Nick Garcia, Alex Midler, Chris Del Moro and Jeremy “Twitch” Stenberg.
