Clinic Supporters Answer May Day Call

Just as the pun intended, a May Day, May Day dinner for the Lestonnac Free Medical Clinic in Orange proved both a festive springtime celebration and a call for financial help.

About 250 guests responded, paying $150 each to attend the dinner at the Anaheim Marriott Saturday and raising $25,000 for the clinic, which provides no-cost medical and dental care for the poor. The gala included a silent auction that featured a replica of a saber-toothed tiger skull and a live baby cockatiel among its exotic offerings.

Maypole Dance

Event chairwoman Jutta Murray chose the May Day theme because she remembered the festive Maypole celebrations she had attended as a child growing up in a tiny German village.

“In Europe, May Day was a traditional celebration of spring. We made a huge post with a wreath around it and everybody gathered around it and held hands,” Murray said.

To carry out the theme, small May poles of dried flowers and ribbon adorned each table. There guests enjoyed a garden salad, Cornish game hen with sherry mushroom sauce and cheesecake.

After dinner guests were serenaded by the Masters of Harmony, a 120-member, all-male choral group.

Heal the Sick

The Lestonnac clinic was founded by Sister Marie Therese Solomon and named after St. Jeanne de Lestonnac, who founded Solomon’s order. The clinic began operating out of a small one-room building in 1979.

“I saw so much poverty. Children with runny noses, women having babies in garages, old ladies waiting to die,” Solomon said. “Something had to be done.” She began seeking doctors and nurses who would volunteer to help “the poorest of the poor.”

The clinic has since expanded to its own building in Orange and provides a wide range of services for more than 6,000 patients a year. There are 26 doctors and four dentists on staff.

“Health care for the indigent is a problem that has to be addressed,” said board president Charlie Kovac. “I was born and raised on the East Side of New York City and had to use the medical clinic 12 blocks away from my house. I’ve always been sensitive to people who need health care.”

Other clinic supporters were honorary chairman Sergio Mandiola and his wife, Claudine; emcee Stanley Pawlowski, Lori Loy, Sara Amador, Phyllis Dretzka, Fran Piazza, Eleanore Randolph, Grace Rocco, Jay Rodriguez, the Rev. John Urell, Sister Doris Valdez and Sister Ernestine Velarde.