Around Town: Pacific Food & Wine Classic comes to Newport Dunes this weekend

The inaugural Pacific Food & Wine Classic, featuring “summer-inspired” cuisine, jazz music and more, comes to Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort from 2 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The food will include more than 100 chef-created dishes, plus wines, beers and cocktails. Live culinary demonstrations by local chefs will be hosted by Food Network star Simon Majumdar.

General admission is $150 per day or $250 for a two-day pass. VIP admission, which includes early entrance at 1 p.m. and access to the VIP gazebo courtyard overlooking the water, is $200 per day or $350 for a two-day pass. No one younger than 21 is permitted.

Newport Dunes is at 1131 Back Bay Drive, Newport Beach. For festival tickets, the schedule and the list of chefs, visit pacificwineandfood.com.

Curator to talk about John Wayne photo exhibit Sunday in Newport

The Newport Beach Central Library will host a presentation Sunday by Amy Shepherd, curator of the photo exhibit “John Wayne: On Set with the Duke,” which is currently on display at the library.

Shepherd, vice president of John Wayne Enterprises and executive director of the John R. Hamilton Archives, will talk about the significance of Hamilton’s photos that are on exhibit until Sept. 5. The collection features rare images from some of Wayne’s most famous films. A visual presentation will accompany her lecture.

The event will be from 2 to 3:30 p.m. in the Friends Room at the library, 1000 Avocado Ave. Admission is free.

UCI gets $378 million in research grants and contract funding, second-most ever

UC Irvine researchers received more than $378 million in grants and contract funding for the 2016-17 fiscal year, the university’s second-highest total ever, according to a news release.

The money came from a variety of sources, including government agencies, foundations and private companies. The largest amount went to health, university officials said, noting that the School of Medicine received $147.5 million.

Officials also said charitable foundation support was up 9% from last year.

“Innovation and discovery thrive with robust research grant funding,” said Pramod Khargonekar, vice chancellor for research. “Research is a central mission for the UCI faculty, students and staff, and these strong results indicate that UCI’s world-class research enterprise will continue to make important, productive contributions to the state, the nation and the world.”

UCI achieved its highest total — $395 million — in the 2015-16 fiscal year.

Hundreds of H.B. children to get nightly pasta dinners, starting Tuesday

Caterina’s Club, an Anaheim-based organization created by renowned chef Bruno Serato, will begin serving nightly pasta dinners to hundreds of Huntington Beach children in addition to the thousands the organization already serves.

Serato, a Huntington Beach resident, will usher in the expansion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the Boys & Girls Club at 15645 Gothard St. at 4 p.m. Tuesday, after which the first 250 children will be fed.

“Huntington Beach is my hometown and, though it’s generally regarded as an affluent community, we indeed have some residents who go to bed hungry at night,” Serato said in a statement. “I’m delighted that Caterina’s Club is once again expanding its footprint, and we will continue to do so until hunger is no longer an issue in our nation.”

With the expansion, Caterina’s Club will be serving 3,505 children every day, according to a news release.

Ocean View hosting middle school registration days

The Ocean View School District will host registration and new-student orientation days for its middle school campuses, starting next week.

“Students and families are encouraged to attend these activities and visit their school websites for important back-to-school messages and details, including activity listings, dates and times,” district officials said in a news release.

Registration days are the following: Spring View, Monday; Marine View, Aug. 28; Mesa View, Aug. 29; Vista View, Aug. 30.

The first day of school is Sept. 6. For a complete list of events, visit ovsd.org.

Public forum Wednesday on Newport sculpture candidates

The Newport Beach Arts Commission invites community members to a forum at 6 p.m. Wednesday where they can review the 46 artworks submitted for the next round of the Civic Center Park sculpture exhibit and offer input to a curatorial panel.

The meeting will be in the council chamber at City Hall, 100 Civic Center Drive.

Panel members and others will discuss criteria for the artworks and review sculpture applications.

The panel will evaluate the works for artistic merit, durability, practicality and site appropriateness and then select nine preferred works and three alternates for recommendation to the Arts Commission. The commission will consider the recommendations at its Sept. 14 meeting, and the commission’s recommendations will go to the City Council for final approval Sept. 26.

Mother’s Market store gives SOS backpacks with school supplies

Share Our Selves, a Costa Mesa-based nonprofit, received 10 backpacks from the Mother’s Market & Kitchen in Huntington Beach.

The backpacks were filled with school supplies and will be donated to Orange County children in need.

Hurley headquarters to host benefit art show

Hurley’s Costa Mesa headquarters at 1945 Placentia Ave. will host an art show with a silent auction Aug. 26.

The event, titled “Hope at Hurley,” will benefit Project Hope Alliance, a Costa Mesa-based nonprofit that aids the homeless.

RSVPs will be accepted via eventbrite.com (search for “Hope at Hurley”).

Walk 4 Water in H.B. to raise money to help build wells for needy

A fundraiser called Walk 4 Water is set for Aug. 26 in Huntington Beach to benefit Women of the Wells, a nonprofit that raises money to build wells in villages around the world that do not have access to a clean water supply.

The 3K (1.86-mile) walk will be on the lower bike path at Beach Boulevard and Pacific Coast Highway. The distance symbolizes the length that many villagers must walk to get water for their households, according to Women of the Wells.

Registration will begin at 8:30 a.m., with the walk starting about 9. The registration fee is $25.

For more information, call Perri Pendleton at (714) 846-2244 or visit womenofthewells.org.

Project Hope Alliance provides services for new affordable-housing community

Project Hope Alliance, a Costa Mesa-based nonprofit that helps the homeless, will be providing services for Wesley Village, a recently unveiled affordable-housing community in Garden Grove.

Project Hope Alliance will provide family and individual counseling, housing and financial support, education support services, transportation assistance, a food pantry, extracurricular activities and more.

“We are incredibly grateful for the tremendous opportunity, trust and resources being afforded to Project Hope Alliance that will allow us to collaboratively seek an end to generational poverty,” Project Hope Alliance Chief Executive Jennifer Friend said in a statement.

Fundraising luncheon aims to fight human trafficking

The Global Center for Women and Justice at Vanguard University in Costa Mesa will present a fundraising luncheon Sept. 16 about ending human trafficking.

The event, titled “Priceless,” will be held from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Island Hotel in Newport Beach. It will feature keynote speaker John Cotton Richmond, founding director at the Human Trafficking Institute.

Tickets start at $180. For more information, visit priceless2017.com.