Leveling the Playing Field
John and Donna Creans’ Super Bowl party scored about $30,000 to benefit troubled youths and their families. The bash also featured a buffet laid out like a gridiron.
The event: A Super Bowl party at the home of John and Donna Crean in Santa Ana Heights to benefit the Juvenile Connection Program, which provides assessment and program referrals to troubled youths and their families.
Couch potato heaven: The Village Crean proved a perfect venue for armchair quarterbacks. The 300 guests could watch the game on big-screen televisions throughout the antebellum-style mansion. Serious football fans hunkered down in an upstairs theater, enjoying the Broncos-Packers face-off from the comfort of about 20 easy chairs.
“Your wife wants you,” one party-goer said, trying to snag a fan’s seat. “Tell her to come up here and get me,” the couch potato replied.
Guests also mingled with the Creans’ Hollywood friends, including actors Jane Withers and Eddie Albert and fashion guru Mr. Blackwell. Up for eats: a pasta buffet decked out like a football field.
Lady of the manor: Eight years ago, the Creans decided to turn their annual Super Bowl bash into a fund-raiser for the Juvenile Connection Program, operated by the Coalition for Children, Adolescents and Parents in Orange.
Donna Crean greeted guests sporting a pair of her trademark tennis shoes (she has at least 30 pairs,
from Winnie-the-Pooh prints to sequined styles). She paid little attention to the game: “I don’t like football,” she explained.
Quote: “Many times we see children involved in gangs or drugs and struggling in school. . . . We determine the underlying cause, then recruit services for the families,” said Cynthia Scheinberg, executive director of the Coalition for Children, Adolescents and Parents.
The assessment and referral service is free.
Faces in the crowd: Barbara Cole, the coalition’s board president; Michael and Cindy Schumacher; Jim and Nora Johnson; Royal Radtke; Stan and Donna Freberg; Andy and Charlene Crean; Bill and Laila Conlin; and Mary Roosevelt.
Bottom line: The $100-per-person party, which included a silent auction of Hollywood memorabilia and other prizes, was expected to net more than $30,000 for the Juvenile Connection Program.
For information: (714) 972-4859.