Community & Clubs:

Last night a crowd gathered at the Costa Mesa Golf and Country Club for the annual allocation meeting of the Costa Mesa Newport Harbor Lions Club.

Club President Mike Scheafer presented checks totaling nearly $25,000 to a variety of local and Lions charities, including Southern California Lions Eye Institute, Lions Project LOOK, Lions 4L4 Sight and Hearing Foundation, Harbor Area Boys and Girls Club, Newport Harbor High Culinary Arts Program, Estancia High Baseball, Costa Mesa High Baseball, Costa Mesa American Little League, Lions 4L4 Hearing Committee, Youth Employment Service, Blind Children’s Learning Center, Costa Mesa Senior Center, OC Model Engineers Railroad, Australian Student Exchange Program, Sea Scouts, Lions Camp at Teresita Pines, Foundation for Junior Blind, Newport Mesa Schools Foundation, Lions Project Canine Companions for Independence, Lions in Sight, Pediatric Diabetes (PADRE), Guide Dogs for the Blind, UCI Lions Hearing Project, Wives Behind the Badge, Save Our Youth (SOY), Someone Cares Soup Kitchen, and Costa Mesa High Cheer Squad.

The funds given were raised at the 2008 Fish Fry and a number of the recipients helped at that event by donating their time and talents.

Scheafer reminds us that the 2009 Fish Fry will be May 30 and 31 at Lions Park.

SPECIAL OLYMPICS

Special Olympic members will benefit Thursday at the track meet at OCC from the volunteer services of a number of members of the Kiwanis Club of Costa Mesa who will help set up, time, measure, hug and do a number of other tasks, according to club President Jeff Dimsdale. The event begins at 8 a.m. and ends around the time of the clubs weekly meeting, where they will honor Estancia Zone students with the Eagle Pride Award.

LITERACY LUNCHEON

Newport Beach Public Library Literacy Services will be hosting a fundraising luncheon with Gina Nahai at 11:30 a.m. May 1 at the Radisson Hotel, 4545 MacArthur Blvd., Newport Beach.

Nahai is the best-selling author of four novels, including her latest work, “Caspian Rain,” which is a family drama and a historical work of fiction offering readers unique insight into the inner workings of Iranian society. “Caspian Rain,” a Los Angeles Times bestseller, was named One of the Best Books of the Year by the Chicago Tribune, and won the Persian Heritage Foundation’s Award.