Nearly 500 guests packed the sold-out Gentlemen’s Haberdashery event April 11 at The Ritz-Carlton, Laguna Niguel, where 40 Orange County executives and community leaders modeled menswear at a fundraiser for the Heart of Jesus Retreat Center in Santa Ana.
Rancho Mission Viejo LLC Chief Executive Tony Moiso and George O’Connell of O’Connell Landscape Maintenance were co-hosts of the event, which returned this year after a five-year hiatus and raised about $150,000.
Event sponsors included Crean Foundation, First American Title and Sukut Construction.
The retreat center offers various spiritual retreats for children, teens and adults.
The American Heart Association’s 2013 Orange County Go Red For Women Luncheon raised $400,000 for the fight against heart disease. The sold-out event took place March 22 at The Island Hotel in Newport Beach. Two-time Olympic swimmer Chloe Sutton gave the keynote address.
Sponsors included Abbott Medical Optics and Edwards Lifesciences Corp.
Celebrity Chef OC raised $60,000 for SeniorServ’s Meals on Wheels program. More than 350 guests attended the sold-out March 16 event at the Irvine Marriott, where celebrity chefs engaged in a competition based on the Food Network show Iron Chef.
Participating chefs included: Nolan Bushnell, founder of Atari and Chuck E. Cheese’s; NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon; and actor Roger Cross, among others.
UPS, Skilled Healthcare and others supported the event.
Chef Azmin Ghahreman committed to raise $100,000 to benefit Project Hope Alliance, an organization that aims to help homeless families become self-sufficient. Ghahreman founded Sapphire at School and owns Sapphire Pantry and Sapphire Laguna Restaurant.
The Girl Scouts of Orange County elected Julie Miller-Phipps as chairperson and picked four new board members. Miller-Phipps is senior vice president and executive director of Kaiser Permanente Orange County. The new board members are Cyd Brandvein, senior vice president and chief of staff for AECOM’s Office of Americas; Jennifer Williams Peguero, director of Merrill Lynch in Newport Beach; Lois Smith, director of customer care at Cox Communications; and Marjorie Terner, senior counsel for the Network and Space Systems division of The Boeing Co.
