Husbands Pitch In for ChildHelp USA Benefit

“We are the lucky ones,” said Kathy Nagy, addressing a banquet hall full of well-tended ladies and a few tuxedoed gents. “We’re living the blessed lives.”

Nagy and Ginni Valley co-chaired a fashion show luncheon at the Irvine Hilton last week that raised about $100,000 for the Orange County chapter of ChildHelp USA, a national organization that offers treatment programs and shelter for severely abused children.

Welcoming the lunch bunch from a podium on the dais, Nagy told the 870 guests that responsibility came with their privileged lives. Then she told a story about the first time she saw someone less fortunate than she and thought, “There but for the grace of God go I.”

It was thoughts like these--and fashions--that got this crowd into chic suits and out to a $60-per-person lunch last Thursday.

Once inside, guests faced a line of fast-talking raffle-ticket salesmen who just happened to be the husbands of the party planners.

“These guys can charm the ladies right out of their money,” said co-chair Valley, “but they are taken! They’re husbands! There’s mine, over there.”

Among the 20 ticket hawkers was Al Nagy, who reported that he and the other spouses were pressed into service last year “and we doubled (raffle ticket sales). . . . “

Describing his sales technique as “loving,” Al Nagy offered this mock pitch: “Hey, c’mon, you came here to eat and drink and have a good time--your husband can afford (raffle tickets). Put some money in this hat!”

Also hawking prizes was Don Minkoff, who held a ticket-stuffed top hat in one hand and his 5-month-old granddaughter, Brittany Forsdick, in the other.

During the luncheon program, a “Children’s Friend” award was given to Newport Beach resident Carol Newett, who in the past 22 years has been a foster mother to more than 100 babies, many of whom had medical problems or were born addicted to drugs.

Before the ceremony, Newett said she found it “heartbreaking” to see so many drug-addicted babies come into the foster-care system and so many older children who have been sexually abused.

“It just seems like the problems are getting worse,” she said. “At the same time, it’s getting harder to find foster (parents) and adoptive homes. I think a lot of people who want to adopt now want a perfect child, and we just don’t have any of those.”

The fashion show featured the spring collection of New York-based designer Laura Marolakos, who was chosen for the occasion by Billur Wallerich of Saks Fifth Avenue at South Coast Plaza.

Proceeds from the event will be used to underwrite expenses of ChildHelp USA’s residential treatment center in Beaumont, Calif. The Village, as the center is called, is home to 80 severely abused or neglected children, 3 to 12 years old. They are attended by psychologists, therapists, teachers and nurses and are allowed to stay for up to 18 months before returning to their natural parents or to be placed with adoptive or foster parents.