Hispanic Education Endowment Fund Honors Its Donors

An organization that provides scholarships and sponsors programs for Latino students honored individual and corporate donors at a reception Thursday.

Ruben Smith, co-chair of the Orange County Hispanic Education Endowment Fund, expressed thanks to major contributors, saying they have “recognized the continuing growth of Orange County’s Hispanic population and the need to educate our future job force.”

The fund aims to raise $1 million this year to promote education, community service, leadership development and arts and language enrichment. Among its programs are scholarships to parochial school students in grades four through eight, as well as to Latino youths pursuing higher education at colleges and universities, at business, law and medical schools, and in the arts.

“The objective is to empower the Hispanic youth of Orange County to achieve educational goals they might not have thought possible,” said Gaddi H. Vasquez, co-chair of the fund and a former Orange County supervisor.

About 300 community and business leaders attended the reception, hosted by The Times Orange County at its Costa Mesa headquarters.

Robert G. Magnuson, senior vice president of The Times’ regional editions, announced a two-year grant totaling $105,000 from the Times Mirror Foundation. “This underscores the commitment of Times Mirror and The Times to the education of the youth of our community,” he said.

Honored for contributions of $25,000 or more were Friends of Cal State Fullerton, Miller Brewing Co., Olga and Fernando Niebla, Friends of UC Irvine, Washington Mutual Savings and Southern California Edison.

Honored for gifts of $10,000 or more were Avila’s El Ranchito, Cordoba Corp., the Hispanic Bar Assn., La Opinion, Lucky Stores, Socorro and Ernesto Vasquez, Irvine Health Foundation, MANA, Disneyland, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the law firm of Alvarado, Smith, Villa & Sanchez.