Assistance League Nets $39,000 for Programs

Assistance League of Long Beach raised more than $39,000 at its annual Home and Garden Tour held March 30. The event, attended by 800 guests, included a tour of five homes, silent auction and gourmet picnic at Rancho Los Cerritos. Proceeds will support the league’s orthodontic center for low-income patients, Kids on the Block programs and scholarships in higher education and music.

Center Theatre Group’s March 8 Salon Series II at the Mark Taper Forum, a tribute to Oscar Hammerstein II, raised $70,000. The benefit, sponsored by Lexus, featured Michael Feinstein, Celeste Holm, Shirley Jones and other performers. Proceeds will be used for ongoing programs. Felisa Vanoff and her son, Nicholas B. Vanoff Jr., were honorary chairmen. Joan Burns, Barbara Marshall and Patti Skouras were co-chairwomen.

Meet Each Need With Dignity announced receipt of a $50,000 donation from the Fritz B. Burns Foundation on March 31. Pacoima-based Meet Each Need provides food, clothing, English-as-a-second-language classes, medical and dental services, home visitation, furniture distribution and other services to needy people in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation Inc. netted $112,000 at its Marine Scholarship Ball on March 20 at the Century Plaza. Daniel Hernandez, executive director of the Hollenbeck Youth Center, was honored. Funds raised will provide scholarships for children of Marines.

Beverly Hills Education Fund held its annual dinner, dance and auction honoring City Councilwoman Vicki Reynolds at the Regent Beverly Wilshire on March 27. Net proceeds of $170,000 will benefit the Beverly Hills Unified School District.

Love Is Feeding Everyone (LIFE) raised $30,000 at its “Strike Out Hunger” Bowl-a-Thon on Feb. 27 at locations in Burbank, Santa Monica, South Bay, Studio City and Tarzana. Sponsors included station KBIG 104.3, Mattel Inc., Republic Pictures, Rhino Records and Technicolor.

UCLA School of Nursing has announced establishment of its first endowed chair in honor of the school’s founding dean Lulu Wolf Hassenplug. The endowment of the Hassenplug chair culminates a four-year campaign in which UCLA School of Nursing alumni, faculty and friends contributed more than $325,000 in gifts in Hassenplug’s name.

United Way Harbor/Southeast Region has awarded Dramatic Results a $5,000 grant to provide interactive arts-based educational programs for at-risk children at Webster Elementary School in Long Beach. The program fosters feelings of self-worth.

Operation Ski Lift for Sarajevo received $13,000, net proceeds raised at a March 1 Las Vegas benefit sponsored by Operation Ski Lift.