Women of Greatness
Mentors, business leaders, and community champions of Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Orange Coast (BGC Central OC) gathered on March 10 for its seventh annual Women of Greatness Brunch & Bubbly event.
Held at Vea Newport Beach and presented by KPMG LLP, the brunch honored women who have impacted the lives of Orange County youth and their families.
The event raised $80,000, enabling BGC Central OC to enhance its programs and initiatives to support future female leaders at the club, including mentorship, and providing equitable access to mentors, resources and opportunities for young women.
Sponsors included KPMG, Joe MacPherson Foundation, Banc of California, Fifth Third Bank, Netwatch, Brown-Forman, Hyundai Capital America, First American Trust, J Williams Staffing, OC Growth Advisors and Spinnaker Investment Group.
The event featured a silent auction, brunch, live music, and presentations including a panel discussion led by keynote speaker Nada Lena Nasserdeen, founder and CEO, Rise Up for You, about the importance of mentorship and opportunities for growth.
KPMG accepted the Community Partner Award for its ongoing commitment over the last nine years to inspire change and empower future female leaders.
Yvonne Herrell, administrative manager, County of Orange Assessor’s Office, and member, BGC Central OC board of directors, received this year’s Woman of Greatness Award in recognition of her financial contributions and ongoing volunteerism.
Helping Always in Fashion
Childhelp’s 38th annual For the Love of a Child Fashion Show and Luncheon, sponsored by South Coast Plaza, welcomed 250 guests at the Balboa Bay Resort Balboa Bay Club on March 7.
The event raised more than $550,000 to help support Childhelp’s mission to address the immediate consequences of child abuse and create a foundation for long-term healing and prevention so children and families can lead healthier, more secure lives.
The ballroom at the Balboa Bay Resort was transformed into a high-fashion, flower-ladened runway space where guests enjoyed a showcase of spring fashions from top designers at South Coast Plaza including Bally, Lanvin, Max Mara, Missoni, Michael Kors Collection, Monique Lhuillier and Saks Fifth Avenue.
The event also featured raffle items provided by South Coast Plaza stores Buccellati, Roger Vivier, David Yurman, Louis Vuitton, Valentino and more.
Following the fashion show, guests were served a three-course lunch. Ale Boggiano and Jen Lilley, founders, Christmas is Not Cancelled, which offers an online opportunity for children to interact with their favorite celebrities, while craft making, baking, and other activities, received the Inspirational Award for their dedication and support of children in need.
Additional event donors included the Madeline and Marvin Gussman Family Foundation, the Crean Foundation and the Argyros Foundation.
Breakfast of Future Champions
More than 100 local professionals, entrepreneurs, nonprofit executives and philanthropists attended a working breakfast on March 7. It’s the first of a series of breakfast meetings hosted by the Institute for Community Impact, a program of the Passkeys Foundation, which are designed to help nonprofits reach their strategic goals by emphasizing collaborative problem-solving and innovative thinking.
The breakfast series is sponsored by Haskell & White, The Wooden Floor, Parentis Foundation, Revolution Office, First Bank, South County Outreach, HUB International, Success with Purpose and Human Options.
Collaborating sponsors included the Santa Ana Chamber of Commerce, Azusa Pacific University, and One OC, which helped promote and facilitate the event.
Wayne Pinnell, managing partner, Haskell & White, said: “We aim to bring together a
diverse mix of individuals at our sponsored table for each breakfast, ensuring a variety of perspectives are shared. It’s a win-win scenario where everyone, especially our community, benefits.”
The March breakfast was dedicated to helping Julie Hudash, founder, Team Kids and Scott Green, founder, Oscar & Ma, both Orange County-based nonprofits, create new ideas and connections for the social enterprise initiatives that each organization has built.
The event featured a success story from last year’s breakfast series. Tracey Hill, CEO, Child Creativity Lab, shared with the assembled participants that her organization has added 12 new corporate partners to support its mission and created three times the number of STEAM Creativity Building kits this past year after sharing its mission with the Institute.
The breakfast series will hold its second and third installments for 2024 on June 18 and Sept. 11.
Bits & Pieces
Dragon Kim Foundation has selected 131 teens from California, Arizona and Nevada to participate in the 2024 Dragon Kim Fellowship Program, a social entrepreneurship incubator for high school youth, which encourages teens to channel their talents and interests into a community service project by offering them leadership training, hands-on guidance from invested professionals, and providing grants of up to $5,000 to ensure the students can implement their projects which include academics, arts, athletics, environmental, financial literacy and health.
The Orange County Community Foundation has elected three new members to its board of governors, including Anna Escobedo Cabral, who served as Treasurer of the United States from 2005 to 2009 and co-founder, The Cabral Group; Tam Nguyen, owner, Advance Beauty College, who has held numerous leadership roles, including chairing the board of the Orange County Transportation Authority with a $1.7 billion budget; and Fram Virjee, who served as president of California State University, Fullerton from 2018 to 2023—leading a campus of more than 40,000 students with an operating budget of over half a billion dollars.
