Chuda Fund Nets $45,000 at Reception

Colette Chuda Environmental Fund raised $45,000 at a reception hosted by Olivia Newton-John at her new “environmentally constructed” home in Malibu on Oct. 31. The Chuda Fund was created by Nancy and James Chuda to research environmental causes of children’s cancer and to honor the memory of their daughter Colette, who died of cancer.

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Alzheimer’s Assn., Los Angeles Chapter, netted $210,000 at its Oct. 27 “New York Sardi’s” gala with host Vincent Sardi. The benefit, attended by 600 guests, honored the late Abe Burrows. Alzheimer’s Assn., dedicated to research the cause, cure and prevention of the disease, also provides services to more than 150,000 patients.

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Recording for the Blind has announced receipt of a $15,000 grant from the Weingart Foundation. The money will be used to establish a San Fernando Valley branch recording studio.

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USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center received $25,000 raised at a Sept. 30 performance of “Catskills on Broadway” at the Wilshire Theatre. The benefit was hosted by Beverly and Howard Hinderstein. Proceeds will help establish the Sherry Hinderstein Nussbaum Meditation Gardens in memory of the Hindersteins’ daughter, who died of cancer five years ago. Guests included Wallis Annenberg, Lorna and Chuck Reed, Harvey and Lillian Silbert, Jan and Toni Murray, Fred and Lois Travalena and Cyndi Garvey.

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Saint John’s Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica raised $115,000 Oct. 4 at its fourth annual Golf Classic at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks. Proceeds will benefit the hospital’s cancer programs. Honorary chairs were Dinah Shore and Robert Wagner. James F. Flaherty and John H. Michel, hospital foundation trustees, were event co-chairs.

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Inner-City Arts Center received $25,000 Sept. 13 from the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce. The money will help refurbish a facility to be named after the center’s largest donor, the Mark Taper Foundation. The center helps 4,300 children on Skid Row.