DRESSING UP: State officials and the American...

DRESSING UP: State officials and the American Cancer Society are hosting a lunch for 200 Santa Ana schoolchildren Wednesday. It’s to teach them the importance of adding more fruit and vegetables to their diet. . . . What better way to do that, they figure, than to put together what they’re billing as the world’s largest salad bar: 3,000 pounds of food ranging from figs and avocados to bell peppers and cherries. They’ll serve it on a 180-foot-long table at the Sporting Club in Irvine.

ELECTRIC MAN: Disney President Frank G. Wells, killed Sunday in a helicopter crash (D1), loved alternative-fuel cars. His death was a special blow to organizers of the 1994 World Clean Air Road Rally to Disneyland, a four-day Southland event that culminates Monday in Anaheim. Two of Wells’ electric cars had been scheduled to participate. . . . Organizer Peter Hackus of Seal Beach says of Wells: “He was a quiet friend toward the whole movement for alternative energy. We are going to dedicate (the rally) to his memory.”

BY THE GROSS: If you have watched this new Ellen DeGeneres TV sitcom Wednesday nights, “These Friends of Mine,” maybe you’ve seen her co-star, Arye Gross, before. He attended UC Irvine and went on to study acting for three years at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa. . . . His last play there was “Let’s Play Two” two years ago. Gross was also one of the three teens who drove cross-country in the movie “Couple de Ville,” and played the Jewish soldier in “A Midnight Clear.”

PREVENTING BLAME: Men are twice as likely as women to commit suicide, often leaving wives with the riddle of finding out why (E1). Answers aren’t always forthcoming, which can lead to deep guilt for their mates, says Shvonne Stricklen, who runs a support group in Santa Ana called Widows of Suicides. . . . “They feel they didn’t do enough for their husbands,” she explains. “They feel people blame them, that they couldn’t prevent this sad, desperate act.”