Kudos to the People Busy Helping Others

The holidays are here and there are so many good people doing good things for good causes in this town. A big round of applause for:

Rob Lowe, who hosted the Los Angeles Free Clinic’s annual dinner Monday honoring Scott Sassa, president of NBC West Coast, and longtime Free Clinic volunteer Marcia Steere of Woodland Hills. The packed Regent Beverly Wilshire bash, chaired by Bernie Brillstein and Ellen Hoberman, raised nearly $1 million, and drew stars such as Jay Leno, Garry Marshall, David Spade and industry biggies such as Brad Grey, Kerry McCluggage, Don Ohlmeyer, Peter Roth and Haim Saban. . . .

United Hostesses Charities President Marilyn Gilfenbein and event co-chairs Bobbi Lederman and Julie Harelson. Their annual dinner dance at the Regent Beverly Wilshire honoring Cedars-Sinai exec Larry Baum raised more than $350,000, a 57-year record. . .

Mark Litman, who chairs the Steven S. Cohen Heart Fund at Cedars. The fund’s benefit at the Regal Biltmore yielded more than $400,000 for research into premature heart disease. . . .

Olivia Newton-John, the choice of the Women’s Guild of Cedars-Sinai for its “Woman of the 21st Century Award,” and guild member Caryl Golden, who received the Evelyn Clayburgh Award at the organization’s annual luncheon at the Four Seasons Hotel. . . . Cardiologist Clarence M. Agress and community activist Anita Lorber, who were lauded at the Heart Saver Award Gala at the Beverly Wilshire, which supports fellowships for Israeli cardiologists at Cedars-Sinai. . . .

Banker Lynn Effinger, recognized by the first March of Dimes Real Estate Award Dinner. Judge Joseph Wapner emceed the evening at the Universal Hilton, which garnered $140,000 for birth-defect research and prevention. . . . Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, Paul Conrad, Janet Fitch and Christopher Nance, who were among the notables who helped the Robert F. Kennedy Medical Center in Hawthorne add $110,000 to its new maternity program, Babies First, at the center’s 24th annual book fair and luncheon at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. . . . Actress Carole Cook, a longtime advocate for AIDS causes, and L.A. County Assessor Kenneth P. Hahn for his work with Pets Are Wonderful Support. Both were feted by the Namaste Interfaith Center at a benefit dinner at the Pickwick Entertainment Center in Burbank. Proceeds enable the group to assist the homeless and underprivileged. . . .

Bob A. Dickey, president of SSafeco Corp., the “Spirit of Life” awardee at the California Insurance Council for City of Hope’s annual dinner. The tote for the evening, staged at Sony Pictures Studios, was $750,000. . . . Radiologist Charles J. Schatz and broadcasting exec David Saperstein and his wife, Suzanne, who shared plaudits at the Israel Cancer Research Fund’s “One Enchanted Evening” bash at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel . . .

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The Circle of Angels of Hollygrove Home for Children, which raised more than $150,000 at this year’s dinner. The event featured a tribute to Hollygrove by Washington, D.C., attorney David Valdez, who is the first Hollygrove alumnus to serve on its board. . . . The dynamic duffers of the 12th annual golf classic at Lakeside Golf Club, who earned $55,000 for Altadena-based Five Acres residential treatment center for abused and neglected youngsters. . . . And players in the 20th annual Foothill Independent Bank/Casa Colina Adaptive Sports Golf Classic, who toted up $150,000 for Casa Colina Centers for Rehabilitation. . . . Marna and Michael Sharpe, who opened their lovely Pasadena estate for a three-day holiday home tour to benefit Elizabeth House, a Pasadena shelter for pregnant women and their children. . . .

And let’s hear it for members of Kiwanis International, who presented UNICEF with a check for $2 million to eliminate iodine deficiency disorders, the single greatest cause of preventable mental retardation in the world.