Smart Set Takes Trip Over the Rainbow to Benefit Children

Fund-raising wizardry.

Or, as Dorothy Fitzgerald put it, “working smarter instead of working harder.”

Fitzgerald was among the 750 women at an Oz-theme fashion show and luncheon Saturday benefiting the Children’s Home Society.

Smart-working party planners brought together seven local Children’s Home Society auxiliaries to stage “Over the Rainbow,” their second annual group fund-raiser.

The coalition effort earned kudos from Fitzgerald, the charity’s director of volunteer services for Southern California. (The statewide agency, which uses public and private funds to underwrite its programs, has 16 auxiliaries in Orange County.)

The event raised $33,000--$13,000 more than last year--according to benefit chairwoman Pat Thatcher, who heads the Ayundantes auxiliary of Mission Viejo.

Also represented in the crowd at the Irvine Hilton were members of the auxiliaries of Las Brizas del Mar of Fountain Valley; Mon Ami of Yorba Linda; Nightingales of Laguna Hills; Paso Primero of Los Alamitos; South Coast of Irvine, and Tiara de Ninos of Huntington Beach.

The doings got under way two hours before lunch with perusals of the raffle prizes. As the guests shopped and chatted, the models and dancers were going through one last rehearsal on a runway in the dining room.

Seated near the footlights, Brenda Corby of San Juan Capistrano watched her young daughter Kai and son Michael as they walked down the runway hand-in-hand. Corby and her husband adopted them and two other children through the society.

Barbara Greschner of Irvine was waiting in the wings as her adopted daughter Alison trooped around with 4-year-old Elizabeth Nelson before the show. (Elizabeth is the daughter of Jane Nelson, president of the South Coast auxiliary.)

“My daughter thrives on this,” said a beaming Greschner, who has another adopted daughter, Amanda. Greschner said the charity means something special to her family as her husband, Bill, was himself adopted through the Children’s Home Society.

After a lunch of teriyaki chicken and stir-fried vegetables, the guests turned their attention to the runway for a peek at women’s and children’s fashions by Jessica McClintock, Koala Blue, Esprit, Ralph Lauren Polo and Adrienne Vittadini, courtesy of the Crystal Court at South Coast Plaza.

Proceeds from the event will be used for programs such as adoption services, subsidized child care, counseling and temporary shelters.