CITY ROUNDUP:Legacy will help marine patients

Pacific Marine Mammal Center has received a bequest of $267,123 from the JoHannah Sisson Charitable Trust. Dixie Jordan, Trustee, along with Lee Leary, Pat Griggs, and Sue Brown, all longtime friends of JoHannah, visited the center recently to present their friend’s gift.

Sisson was a resident of Laguna Beach for 47 years and spent 30 years as a teacher and counselor in the Santa Ana Unified School District. During her lifetime she was active as both volunteer and donor with the Center (then Friends of the Sea Lion), among many other community organizations.

“This extremely generous gift was a tremendous surprise to us and we are honored to be a part of JoHannah’s legacy,” said Emily Wing, Pacific Marine Mammal Center Director of Development/Marketing.

“We will now be able to complete the second phase of our pool and enclosure renovation project as well as further solidifying the foundation on which we can continue to build.

“It is our ongoing goal to provide the best quality of care for our marine mammal patients and JoHannah’s gift will be instrumental in helping us to achieve that goal for many years to come. She will truly make a difference in the lives of thousands of marine mammals.”

Pacific Marine Mammal Center is a non-profit organization with a mission to rescue, medically treat, and rehabilitate pinnipeds and cetaceans that strand along the Orange County coastline due to injury or illness; to release healthy marine mammals back to their natural habitat; and to increase public awareness of the marine environment through education and research.

The Center is located at 20612 Laguna Canyon Road. The Center and gift shop are open to the public from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. For more information, call (949) 494.3050 or visit www.pacificmmc.org.

Blood drive participants to receive coupon

An American Red Cross blood drive will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Wednesday in the South Coast Medical Center Auditorium, 31872 Coast Highway. This year’s theme is, “We save lives. You can too. Please give blood.”

All participants will receive a free Chili’s Skillet Queso coupon and be entered in a regional drawing for free gas (a $500 gift card) courtesy of the Red Cross.

Appointments are requested. To make a reservation, visit www.givelife.org, sponsor code: southcoast, or contact the hospital’s Auxiliary Office at (949) 499-7177.

Yellots elected new president of Miller Garden

Dorothea Yellots, a 30-year-plus resident of Laguna Beach, recently was elected president of the Friends of Hortense Miller Garden.

Three years ago Yellots retired as marketing director for UC Irvine’s Campus Housing Authority.

Other officers elected include Joan Henderson, vice president; Erika Giordano, secretary; and Marsha Bode, treasurer.

“It has been a pleasure to meet the other garden volunteers, all brought together by a common interest in the Garden and in Hortense and her accomplishments,” Yellots said. “I am grateful to Hortense and to the City of Laguna Beach for creating and maintaining this institution, and for the recreational and education purposes it serves.”

Yellots joined the Friends of the Garden after her retirement and trained as a docent. A native of Oregon, she grew up on a ranch in Klamath Falls.

Tours of the Miller Garden and house are arranged through the City of Laguna Beach Recreation Department by calling (949) 497-0716. Reservations are available Tuesday through Saturday usually at 10 a.m.

Church plans Sunday blood drive

An American Red Cross blood drive will take place at Laguna Presbyterian Church on Sunday, July 15, between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. All donors will receive a coupon for a free Skillett Queso from Chili’s Restaurant.

Donors must be age 17 or older, weigh at least 110 lbs, in good health, not at risk for HIV/AIDS and not have given blood in the past 56 days.

To reserve an appointment time, get directions, and review preparatory diet restrictions, sign up at www.givelife.org sponsor code: lagunap or contact the church office at (949) 494-7555 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

The church is located at 415 Forest Ave., downtown Laguna Beach.

Latitude 33 plans midnight Harry Potter party

The last Harry Potter book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” will be released on July 21 at midnight, and Latitude 33 Bookshop is planning a midnight book release party, starting at 11:30 p.m. July 20.

The bookshop will hand out goodies, galleys (free books), and door prizes.

Attendees will also be treated to Harry Potter trivia and other entertainments.

The book can be preordered.

Every household that purchases their book from Latitude 33 becomes eligible to enter the Independent Muggles for Harry Potter sweepstakes to win a trip for four to London.

Latitude 33 is located at 311 Ocean Ave., Laguna Beach.

For more information, call (949) 494-5403 or e-mail latitude33@earthlink.net