Women of Vision See Past O.C.

“Why did I end up with so much and the poor end up with so little?”

For years, that question nagged at Betsy Tarbell like a toothache.

A self-described woman “who has it all”--successful husband (realtor Don Tarbell), unlimited opportunities to bounce around the world first class, luxurious digs in the gated Belcourt area of Newport Beach-- all was never enough, she says.

So she joined Women of Vision, a global ministry to the poor that is catching on with local members of the affluent set.

“I decided I wanted to be open to another way of travel,” Tarbell says. “The kind of travel that makes you see the world as it really is--helps you reach out.”

Women of Vision is an arm of World Vision (since 1950, a relief and development program that assists the poor in 90 countries) that encourages women to help their sisters in Third World countries. “And not to just give them money,” Tarbell says, “but to go to them, work with them, help them make their dreams come true.

“A lot of us have been blessed with a lot of time and money. We need to ask ourselves what to do about all we’ve been given. This is all about choices.”

Gail Ochs agrees. “It’s simply the choice to do something meaningful,” says Ochs, wife of Fieldstone Co. founder Peter Ochs. “You can only have so many lunches. You can only work on your body so many times. It isn’t satisfying! I think the women involved in our group are really fulfilled by what they’re doing.”

What does she get out of it? “Joy,” she says, simply.

Specifically, the women travel to Third World countries, meet with leaders of special projects and return to decide which projects they will support through funding.

Last week, Tarbell returned from a weeklong visit to Mexico City, where she and nine other local women learned of the poverty and hopelessness that plague some of the city’s suburbs.

“Our group saw seven projects and chose to support three of them,” Tarbell says. “One is the Hank Gonzales Project--a program to help about 80 kids begin their educations.”

Beverly Peters, wife of husband James Peters (J. M. Peters development company), says she joined Women of Vision because she wanted to make something happen in the world.

Given the affluence she enjoys, the world is her oyster, she admits. “At this stage in my life, being married to the man I’m married to, I could do just about anything I wanted,” she says. “But it’s not me. Many women in my position would be content to pursue their own dreams--don’t get me wrong, I’m not criticizing, we all come from different places in life--but there is something inside my soul that compels me to do something.”

Next week, Karen French of Emerald Bay (wife of developer Tom French) leaves for Kenya with six other local women to inspect the projects the group decided to assist after the last visit there.

“This past year, our group has raised about $100,000,” says French. “And now it’s time to go back to Africa and see the difference--see the cows we’ve bought for them and the tractors, the medicines, and their new women’s multipurpose center. I tell you, there’s nothing like it.”

Social Scoops: A supper buffet in the new Plaza Tower across from the Orange County Performing Arts Center will follow the Segerstrom Hall concert on Sept. 28 featuring flutist James Galway and opera stars Pablo Elvira and Diana Soviero. The $250 per-person concert/supper gala (catered by the Westin South Coast Plaza) marks the fourth major social event celebrating the fifth birthday of the Orange County Performing Arts Center and the first time in local arts history that five organizations--the Orange County Philharmonic Society, Opera Pacific, Pacific Symphony, Pacific Chorale and Master Chorale--have combined to present a program at the Center. . . .

Arts activists Floss Schumacher and Dotti Stillwell will co-chair the elegant supper at the Westin South Coast Plaza that will follow tenor Placido Domingo’s concert in Segerstrom Hall on Jan. 12. Honorary co-chairpersons are Spanish Consul General Eduardo Garriguez and artist Maria Del Carmen Calvo-Henry, wife of Dr. Walter Henry--dean of the UCI College of Medicine. . . .

Chanel at South Coast Plaza’s own Roger Martin will be among guests partying on the 20th Century Fox lot in Los Angeles on Sept. 16, when the Paris-based boutique launches Egoiste, its new fragrance for men. Martin, who manages the local boutique, will rub elbows with members of the Music Center’s elite Blue Ribbon 100 and, he hopes, Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld. Watch for Martin to kick off his own promotion of Egoiste on Sept. 12 when a herd of hunks (the bachelors who will be auctioned off at the March of Dimes’ annual Bid for Bachelors on Oct. 16) crowd the store that has the society set longing for perfectly cut suits that begin at $3,000. . . .

Along with her mum, Pilar, Aissa Wayne will help serve up fare on behalf of Orangewood on Sept. 16 at Dizz’s As Is restaurant in Laguna Beach. The benefit, dubbed “Dynamic Duos” (Joey and Sylvia Bishop will also wait on tables, along with Janice and Roger Johnson, Gus and Kathryn Thompson-Owen, and Mike Nason and Vikki Vargas) has a price tag of $250 per person. Fleetwood Enterprises owner John Crean has already popped for the Golden Circle table. The price tag? A cool $5,000. . . .

Patricia Loreen Robinson, daughter of Lorraine Robinson of Newport Beach, will tie the knot with King of the Beach Sinjin Smith--probably the world’s greatest volleyball player--on Nov. 22 in Santa Monica. . . .

Party previews: Fluor Corp. Chairman Les McCraw and his wife, Mary Earle, opened the doors to their French-style Harbor Ridge digs on Wednesday to patrons of the Catalogue Caper--the annual dinner-cum-treasure-hunt staged by Neiman Marcus at Fashion Island on behalf of the local chapter of the American Diabetes Assn. Mary Earle was chairwoman of the cocktail reception and supper, which featured Italian dishes ( bruschetta, lasagna made with polenta, and tira misu) cooked up by Carmelo’s of Corona del Mar.

The Sept. 7 caper marks the first time the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach has catered an off-site party and the first time Neiman Marcus has taken the dinner portion of the affair into a tent. The night’s highlight has always been the chance to win the raffle--a $10,000 shopping spree.

Beverly and Nelson Mamey--last year’s money winners--used the big bucks for Christmas shopping, they said. This year, they were put in charge of the raffle proceedings. “It’s going to be awfully embarrassing when I pull my name out,” Beverly teased as she mingled with underwriters who had donated a minimum of $1,000.

Also among party-goers: Candice and Roger Schnapp, Neiman Marcus manager Carol Horowitz, Judie and Carmelo Manto, and Jack and Dori DeKruif. Catherine Thyen is caper chairwoman. . . .

The exclusive wine cellar at the chic Ritz restaurant in Newport Beach was the site of a Thursday luncheon held to discuss plans for Hoag Hospital’s Christmas Carol Ball set for Dec. 7 at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Tennis Club. Courtney Emery, president of Implant Technologies Limited, will chair the 552 Club-sponsored gala, which has the theme “Home for the Holidays.” . . .