‘Celebrate the Children’ Gala Nets $96,000 for Salvation Army

The Salvation Army “Celebrate the Children” gala honoring Angela Lansbury netted more than $96,000 March 12 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire. Proceeds will fund shelter programs for underprivileged children and teens in the Los Angeles area, focusing on Hollywood and Pico-Union. The gala was hosted by Lew Wasserman, Ted W. Engstrom, Guilford and Diane Glazer, Caroline Leonetti Ahmanson and Richard J. Riordan.

UCLA Art Council raised $200,000 at its Thieves Market ’92 giant garage sale and auction held March 20 and 21 at the Santa Monica Air Center. Proceeds will benefit such visual arts programs as Wight Art Gallery, Grunwald Graphic Arts Center, Fowler Museum, Franklin D. Murphy Sculpture Garden and Art Library, and other projects. Gloria Drexler and Helene Cooper co-chaired the event. Muriel Simkin is UCLA Art Council president.

Speech and Language Development Center’s benefit luncheon and fashion show March 14 netted about $5,000. Mr. Blackwell spoke at the Hyatt Regency Long Beach event with his fashion commentary. Proceeds will benefit more than 155 students, ages 10 months through 22 years, who attend the center’s education and therapy programs.

Childrens Hospital Los Angeles has announced the receipt of a $100,000 grant from the Fritz B. Burns Foundation of Burbank. The grant will be used for research in plastic and reconstructive surgery.

Shakespeare Festival/LA, the only professional Southern California theater company working to preserve the free public theater tradition, has announced the receipt of $117,000 in grants for its upcoming season. Those who contributed are the Michael J. Connell Foundation, Frank J. Sherwood, the James Irvine Foundation and the S. Mark Taper Foundation. Food collected at festival presentations in 1991 totaled more than $100,000; it was donated to the Salvation Army’s Family Feeding Program and the Los Angeles Family Housing Corporation’s transitional shelters in North Hollywood and East Los Angeles. Vons matches food donations 2-for-1.

Santa Ana High School’s Dollars for Scholars raised more than $11,500 at its Feb. 23 “Bill Medley in Concert at the Hop” benefit in Fountain Valley. Proceeds will be used for scholarships.

Aviva Center’s Jan. 30 benefit gala honoring Mariette Hartley at the Four Seasons Hotel was attended by more than 270 guests. Proceeds will help support the 77-year-old center’s Hollywood residential treatment for girls, two diagnostic shelters for teens in the Valley and a countywide foster home program.

AltaMed Health Services Corporation’s new Senior Health and Activity Center, which opened in December, has received a $100,000 grant from the Weingart Foundation.