In the Business of Building Esteem
It was a night at the theater for members of Club 100, a support group of Girls Inc. of Orange County.
Before attending a performance of the St. Joseph Ballet at the Irvine Barclay Theatre last week, club members dined on veggie lasagna and ice cream at the University Club on the UCI campus.
The event--also attended by about 15 members of Girls Inc.--was a “natural,” said Club 100 President Linda Schulein of Newport Beach.
“St. Joseph Ballet and Girls Inc. are in the same business. We try to give a boost to kids who need support.”
Using after-school activities to help young girls develop their emotional, intellectual and physical well-being, Girls Inc. offers programs dealing with pregnancy and substance abuse as well as science and sports.
Kym Crossen, 11, of Costa Mesa loves the program. “The club is fun, supportive,” she said. “It gives me a place to go after school. If I’m having problems, the staff is there for me.”
After-school hours can be “boring,” said Amanda Salazar, 12, of Costa Mesa. Girls Inc. has given her the “chance to see my friends, have someone to talk to,” she said.
Schulein, a community activist recently named Newport Harbor’s Soroptimist woman of the year, decided to give her time to the cause because “all of us need the kind of guidance the girls are getting,” she said. “Someone to tell you you’re smart, that you should take science and math. Someone to tell you not to knock yourself. We try to help the girls through what seems to be a tougher time of growing up.”
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Larry King, Live!--After CNN interviewer Larry King spoke at a luncheon in the Hyatt Regency Irvine, he asked that the lights be turned up so he could see people as they asked questions.
“I know this is Irvine, and everybody goes home at one o’clock,” he deadpanned from a stage backed with a mural of the Manhattan skyline. “But, lights up!”
Cerise Feeley of Newport Beach wasted no time posing a question at last week’s benefit for Big Brothers/Big Sisters: “You’re so at ease with celebrities; what was your most awkward interview?”
King replied: “Sinatra. I was scared, and he was so imposing. And Robert Mitchum. He drove me nuts with one-word answers. The question, ‘why?’ is usually safe. You just can’t get a simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ with it. But Mitchum answered ‘because’!”
More than 500 guests enjoyed a feast of filet mignon and angel hair pasta at the annual benefit staged by Angelitos de Oro, a support group of Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Orange County.
The nonprofit organization matches children from single-parent homes with adult role models. Volunteers make a one-year commitment to the program and agree to spend about six hours a week with the child.
Marcia Cashion and Louise Ewing were luncheon co-chairwomen. Committee members included Barbara Bowie, Cecilia Nott, Catherine Thyen, Arden Flamson and Maralou Harrington.