Honoring Komen donors

Luminarias sparked by breast cancer survivors and family members of people who have died from the disease lined the walkways around the Costa Mesa offices of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation Thursday night.

Donors to the foundation, which raises money for breast cancer support services, and people whose lives have been affected by the disease came out for the celebration.

Tami Thomson, who was one of the primary organizers of the event, said the lanterns symbolize a variety of things.

“Fire can be used for celebration and also to memorialize,” Thomson said.

The night’s musical entertainment was provided by a band of boys from Tarbut V’Torah, a Jewish school on the border of Newport Beach and Irvine, who call themselves Ribbons of Fire.

As part of their bar mitzvah ritual, the boys needed to do something charitable, and they decided to be creative and play cover songs, donating all proceeds from gigs to Komen.

Most of the boys have a family member who has fought breast cancer.

So far they have raised $300 playing a handful of street festivals.

“They’re so excited with what they’ve been able to accomplish,” said Stacia Deutsch, the mother of the drummer and a breast cancer survivor herself.

Komen hosts several events each year, the most prominent being the Race for the Cure, and they often center around visual displays to remember those who have died of breast cancer.

“There’s something about doing something tangible in someone’s memory,” said Cindy Brenneman, the organization’s volunteer coordinator.

Two Newport Beach businessmen were also given awards by the foundation Thursday. Jim Muzzy, a founding partner of PIMCO, and Jim Ulcickas, the proprietor of Bluewater Grill, were picked among a group of influential Orange County men to advocate for Komen.

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ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.