Around Town: Gala raises $425,000 for Irvine public schools
The Irvine Public Schools Foundation’s 2015 Spirit of Excellence gala and auction on Saturday raised more than $425,000 for Irvine schools and honored Irvine Unified School District alumni such as No Doubt guitarist Tom Dumont.
More than 350 community members, business leaders, educators and parents attended the sixth annual gala at the Kia Motors America headquarters in Irvine.
Dumont, a 1986 graduate of Woodbridge High School, received the Spirit of Excellence in Music award. Fellow alumnus Justin Chen, an architect who is a 2001 graduate of Irvine High School, earned the Spirit of Excellence in the Arts honor, and Irvine band The Brevet, with 2007 graduates of Woodbridge and University high schools, won the Rising Star Award.
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Lobster divers to compete Saturday in Corona del Mar
OC Spearos, a nonprofit spearfishing and freediving club based in Costa Mesa, and Urt clothing company will present a freediving lobster-grab tournament from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday at Little Corona Beach at Poppy Avenue in Corona del Mar.
The event, titled the Lob-Off, will features divers with no air tanks vying for awards for catching the biggest spiny lobster, the most legal lobsters and the heaviest lobster. Prizes will include a dive suit and a spear gun.
The contest is open to the public. To enter, divers must have a fishing permit and a lobster report card and measuring device.
Registration is $25 at urturt.com.
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Breast cancer benefit ride to pass through Newport
About 200 riders are expected to bicycle into Newport Beach on Saturday afternoon as part of the three-day YSC Tour de Pink West Coast event to raise awareness and support for women 40 and younger who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.
The 200-mile ride, which began Friday in Santa Barbara and ends Sunday in Encinitas, is a fundraising event of the Young Survival Coalition, a nonprofit that offers help to more than 250,000 women living in the United States who were diagnosed with breast cancer before their 41st birthday.
The cyclists are scheduled to spend the night Saturday in Newport Beach before leaving the next morning for Laguna Beach, Dana Point, San Clemente, Camp Pendleton, Oceanside and Encinitas.
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Giant pumpkin contest Sunday in Irvine
Who has the greatest pumpkin in Irvine? The 2015 Pumpkinmania giant pumpkin weigh-off on Sunday at Tanaka Farms aims to find out.
The public is invited to watch as area growers compete for $1,800 in cash and other prizes to see whose pumpkin is heaviest, funniest-shaped, best-colored and more.
The event will be held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 5380 University Drive, Irvine. The weigh-off is at 11:30 a.m. Participants can register until 11 a.m.
Tanaka Farms also is offering its pumpkin patch from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily through Oct. 31, including wagon rides, a self-pick vegetable patch, a corn maze and a petting zoo.
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3 Newport residents honored by Discovery Cube
Three Newport Beach residents were honored for their support of Discovery Cube Orange County at a gala Sept. 26 at the science center in Santa Ana, known for its cube-shaped facade.
Julia and George Argyros received the Arnold O. Beckman Award at the Hollywood-themed party in the Julianne Argyros Showcase Theater and Exhibition Hall.
Linda White-Peters was presented the inaugural Spirit of Discovery Award.
The event raised more than $575,000 for science education, according to a news release.
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O.C. Community Foundation awards $500,000 to help veterans
The Newport Beach-based Orange County Community Foundation has awarded a total of $500,000 to seven Orange County nonprofits to help returning military veterans transition to civilian life. The grants are part of the foundation’s Orange County Veterans Initiative, formed in 2011 and expanded this year.
“The purpose of our Veterans Initiative is to fuel innovative approaches to solving critical gaps in services for local veterans and their families,” foundation President Shelley Hoss said in a statement. “After all, they have sacrificed for us [and] these men and women deserve the very best we can offer them as they return to civilian life.”
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Allergan Foundation grant helps science-education group
The Irvine-based Allergan Foundation awarded a $5,000 grant to Science@OC, a Santa Ana nonprofit that works to strengthen science education in Orange County public middle schools.
“We are pleased to support the important work that Science@OC is doing in our public schools by bringing the excitement of science to students,’’ Gwyn Grenrock, the foundation’s executive director, said in a statement. “The Allergan Foundation has long been committed to educational programs that will inspire a new generation of scientists and engineers and the innovations that result.”
Since its inception in 1988, the Allergan Foundation has distributed more than $57 million to a variety of causes, according to a news release.