On the Town: Birthday party for Burbank Unified employee raises funds for ocean cleanup
In a world in which facts are all too often ignored, there are some things that are simply undeniable — that every 365 days we get a year older, pollution of discarded plastics is destroying our oceans, and fashions of the 1970s were, well, let’s just say, unlike those of any other era.
Those three facts melded together like a blob of lava in a lamp this past Saturday as friends of Kimberley Clark of the Burbank Unified School District gathered to celebrate her birthday in a 1970s-themed party that also served as a fundraiser for the Ocean Cleanup Foundation.
Clark, who grew up in Burbank, has been an adventurous traveler since she was very young.
She lived in Europe for 10 years, residing in six different countries before returning to Burbank.
A graduate of John Burroughs High School, Clark earned a bachelor’s degree with honors in English from California State University, Northridge, and a master’s degree in business and transactional writing from Brunel University in London.
Having chalked up a career resume that includes work as a writer, editor and creative director for an advertising agency, she is best known for her high-profile work with Burbank Unified as the executive assistant to Supt. Matt Hill, and as the district’s public information officer.
A member of the Toluca Guild of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, Clark is also a graduate of the 2014 class of Leadership Burbank, has been a longtime volunteer with the senior community outreach program at St. Joseph’s Medical Center and serves as a board member for the Burbank Temporary Aid Center.
In keeping with the polyester-o-plenty theme of last week’s party that honored Clark, many guests arrived in wildly patterned shirts, jumpsuits, bell-bottomed pants, platform shoes, puka shell necklaces, maxi-dresses, mini-skirts and go-go boots.
Fueled by the soundtrack of pulsating disco, the evening was rife with the sharing of throwback memories of the ’70s, kindled by a display of popular toys from the decade that saw a “Saturday Night Massacre” lead to a presidential resignation, “Saturday Night Fever” define the era’s music, dance and fashion, and “Saturday Night Live” change the landscape of American comedy.
Among those who enjoyed the flashback festivities were City Councilman Bob Frutos and his wife, Laura, Mary Catherine Logan-Brooks of Burbank Unified and her husband, Brent, and Burbank Chamber of Commerce board chairwoman Gema Sanchez and her husband, Rey.
Others who got into the grooviness of the gathering included Silvia Mancini of the Walt Disney Co., Amelia Josephine Lewis, who worked on the CBS medical drama “Code Black,” starring Rob Lowe and Marcia Gay Harden, which just concluded its run last week.
Also among the attendees were Connie Barron Trimble, David Dobson, Christina Ellixson, Michael Lowe, Mary Doyle, Michael Vasquez, John Ellingwood, Jeannette de los Reyes and Linda Ackerman Cozakos.
Funds raised in honor of Clark will benefit the Ocean Cleanup Foundation, which has developed a technology to extract plastic pollution from the oceans and prevent more debris from entering ocean waters.
Founded in 2013, the organization utilizes a passive method of removing marine pollutants with a drifting flotation system that catches and concentrates debris that are then extracted by support vessels.
The first system is set to be deployed this year, and the foundation estimates it will be able to clean up 50% of the debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch within five years of its full-scale deployment in 2020.
DAVID LAURELL may be reached by email at dlaurell@aol.com or (818) 563-1007.
