Surfing is therapy for people with cystic fibrosis.
The ocean air helps loosen up the extra-sticky mucus that builds up in the lungs of those who battle the life-shortening genetic disease.
Surfing’s positive effect on the disease helps bring out the surf industry for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation of Orange County’s annual Pipeline for the Cure fundraiser.
Big-wave surfers Laird Hamilton and Dave Kamala will be on hand for the fourth annual event Aug. 6. Kamala is the godson of Judy Burlingham, cofounder of the Pipeline for a Cure.
The surf-themed fundraiser, held at the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach, is expected to raise $500,000.
The event is timed to coincide with the US Open of Surfing, which runs July 30-Aug. 7.
Some of the event’s sponsors include actions sports apparel makers Quiksilver Inc., in Huntington Beach, Irvine’s Billabong USA, Irvine-based La Jolla Group’s O’Neill brand and Costa Mesa’s Volcom Inc.
One of the biggest sponsors is Huntington Beach-based restaurant operator BJ’s Restaurants Inc.
“We’re hoping this year will be our biggest year ever,” said Michael Shumard, executive director of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s Orange County chapter, based in Anaheim.
Since its inception, the fundraiser has netted $1.3 million for the national foundation based in Maryland, which researches cures and treatments.
Cystic fibrosis affects about 30,000 kids and adults. People with the disease take 35 to 45 pills a day to combat the toll it takes on the lungs and other body organs. The average life expectancy for someone with cystic fibrosis is 37.
There is no cure for the disease, but treatments to lengthen life and add to the quality of life are on the horizon, Shumard said.
The discovery that surfing and living in a coastal area helped people with cystic fibrosis led to a daily treatment of saline solution that’s inhaled.
Others attending the Pipeline for the Cure are expected to include Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong and his son Joey Armstrong, drummer for Emily’s Army, which will perform at the event. The band was named after Emily Daskas, a teenager who has cystic fibrosis.
Los Angeles-based Fuel TV’s Matt Beacham will co-host the event with Shawn Parr of Pacifico, a beer distributed by Chicago-based Crown Imports LLC.
Helping Hand
Hans Rindfleisch, president of Eurobath and Tile in Costa Mesa, is closing his business and donating his remaining inventory to Santa Ana-based Habitat for Humanity of Orange County.
The organization builds affordable homes.
Rindfleisch donated $500,000 worth of designer faucets, sinks, bathtubs and the like to Habitat OC’s ReStore Discount Home Improvement Centers in Garden Grove and Santa Ana. The stores sell new and recycled donated home supplies. Store sales raise money for the nonprofit.
Habitat also was the recipient of another recent donation.
Irvine-based architecture firm Thomas P. Cox Architects Inc. gave $85,000 to Habitat of OC. The architects raised the money during their 11th annual charity golf tournament at the Tustin Ranch Golf Club. Some of the sponsors of the tournament included San Juan Capistrano-based Fluidmaster Inc., Union Bank and Greenburg Traurig LLP, a law firm with offices in Irvine.
Arts Center Upswing
The Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa closed out its 2010-2011 season with an increase in donors and attendees.
The center now has 7,000 donors, with more than half contributing between $50 and $2,500.
The center’s annual budget is $54 million.
The arts complex saw paid admissions increase by 63,500 for 359 concerts and performances. Altogether, about 470,000 people paid to see shows at the center.
About 150,000 attended shows for free, including many of the county’s schoolchildren.
The center added 1,000 new donors.
The largest are The Segerstrom Foundation Endowment for Great Performances and Audrey Steele Burnand Endowed Fund for International Dance, both supporters of the center’s International Dance Series.
Village People
The Village at 17th Street in Santa Ana, a shared office space for nonprofits, held its official grand opening in July.
It was founded by retired William Podlich, former chief executive of Newport Beach’s Pa-cific Investment Management Co. (Pimco).
Warren Lortie, a real estate investor who founded WLA Investments in Newport Beach, helped build the $3.5 million project.
Lortie is vice president of the board for Orange County Shared Spaces Foundation, which also was founded by Podlich and serves as an umbrella organization for the Village and other efforts.
The Village houses 11 nonprofit organizations, some of which include Campfire USA Orange County Council, Mercy House and Public Health Foundation Enterprises.
Nonprofits at the 35,000-square-foot Village share office equipment, a conference room, a training room and a front desk. They also get to swap ideas and share information.
Other backers of the Village at 17th include the Newport Beach-based Orange County Community Foundation, which provided a $500,000 loan and hosts the Orange County Shared Spaces Foundation, as well as Bill Thompson, former chief executive of Pimco and Gerald Solomon, president of the Corona del Mar-based Samueli Foundation.
