Fund-Raiser Done in Good Toast

More for less: The Volunteer Center of Orange County turned a ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Irvine into a gourmand’s paradise last week for its seventh annual “A Toast From the Heart”--a $40-a-pop fund-raiser that may be the best buy on the charity circuit.

At cocktail hour on Thursday, about 500 guests showed up to sample delicacies prepared by chefs from 11 local restaurants, sip wines poured by reps from 29 California vineyards and bid on silent and live auction items.

When the corks and forks were cleared away, the nonprofit center walked off with an estimated $40,000 in proceeds.

Glorious Food

Little cocktail plates meant dainty servings--which meant more trips to the buffets. That was OK with the straight-from-the-office crowd. “It just gives you a chance to try different wines with the food,” reasoned Cynthia Kennedy, strolling the tables with Constance Russell.

Deborah and Alan Parnigoni started their evening with samplers’ portions of Chardonnay. Gazing around the ballroom, eyes widening, Deborah said: “This is won derful! But where do you start?”

Diving in wherever they saw an opening, guests lined up and chowed down on chicken-wrapped shrimp and spicy noodle salad from Royal Thai; ceviche and spinach-stuffed mozzarella from Pizazz; chicken salad in a radicchio cup and smoked ahi topped with pesto from Bistro 201; duck sausage and crab cakes with corn, from the Hyatt restaurant Morell’s.

Also serving their specialties were the Tulsa Rib Co., the Stuft Noodle, Gandhi, the Hobbit, Barbacoa, the Black Sheep Bistro, the Golden Truffle.

Notes From the Cellar

Many party-goers were from the I-know-what-I-like school of wine appreciation. A few judged the pickings with more sophisticated palates. For those few, the live auction of select wines was the highlight of the benefit.

Rory Walck, a financial consultant from San Juan Capistrano, gave the auction 155 bottles from a personal collection of more than 3,000. “I figured it’s a good cause--and I can use the room in my cellar,” Walck joked.

When Walck’s wife saw him looking through the other wines for sale, she rolled her eyes.

“The nightmare continues,” Linda Walck groaned. “I mean, we already have more wine in our house than we need in our lifetime.”

“There’s never too much wine,” Rory Walck countered, ginning. “I have my eye on an interesting ’70 Bordeaux.”

Who’s Who

Thomas Seeberg chaired the event. Timothy Owen chaired the wine auction. Carol Stone, president of the Volunteer Center, mingled through the huge room filled with guests.

The center calls itself a “one-stop clearing house” for county volunteers; among its services are recruiting and placing volunteers at more than 1,200 local nonprofit organizations, and providing management and training services for the charities.

“We get a lot of bang for our buck,” Stone said proudly.

It costs the center approximately $25 to recruit, train and place each volunteer, she said, and each volunteer provides about four hours per week of free service.

“We put over 25,000 volunteers into the Orange County community last year,” Stone said, “so you’re getting a pretty big ripple effect for your investment in us.”

Stone also noted that a recent study showed only about 30% of Orange County residents do volunteer work, contrasted with a national average of 54%.

I was thinking the lights were getting dimmer,” mused David Nowel, an environmental engineer from Huntington Beach. “Then I thought, ‘Wait a minute. The lights are the same--but this is my third glass of wine.’ ”