Outreach

Actor Eduardo Verástegui and director Alejandro Gomez Monteverde will conduct a Q&A session after a free screening of their award-winning movie “Bella,” at the Lido Theater Sunday. The film won the People’s Choice Award at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival and the 2007 Legacy Award from the Smithsonian. It will play at 11 a.m. as part of the 44th Orange Coast Christian Outreach Week in and around Newport Beach until Saturday. The week’s main attraction is the Mayors’ Prayer Breakfast at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Irvine.

The 19th Assistance League of Newport-Mesa Medallion Debutante Ball presented 10 exceptional young women to local society July 18. More than 200 family members and close friends joined hands applauding the accomplishments of the debutantes at an elegant Sunday evening coming-of-age ceremony held at the Balboa Bay Club & Resort in Newport Beach. A celebration that caps four years of community service that begins in the ninth grade, the debutantes first take their path as members of the "Assisteens Auxiliary.

COSTA MESA — Interim Police Chief Steve Staveley has a message for his successor: "You may hate me for this, but do it. " After all, the Costa Mesa community might just get used to these "Chief's Office Hours" on Tuesdays, where residents can meet with the chief on anything they want to discuss. "It's just one of those outreach things you got to do," Staveley said Wednesday, the morning after hosting his first open-door session, where half a dozen residents showed up. Staveley said he's writing a memo, adding to it a couple sentences here and there, on what ideas he has for the next chief, particularly in community outreach.

Children from La Colonia Anaheim Independencia Community Family Resource Center hiked a three-mile loop trail Sunday at Crystal Cove State Park. The event was designed to allow inner-city youth to experience nature firsthand. Naturalist Lori Whalen from the Environmental Nature Center guided children through the park's El Moro Canyon, explained the adaptations of plants and animals living within the Coastal Sage Scrub and Riparian ecosystems and pointed out animal evidence in tracks, scat, fur, feathers and habitats.

For a 14-year-old girl living in Ensenada, Mexico, turning 15 often means it is time for marriage and a family. The teens, living in impoverished areas, don’t see too many other options — or so they thought. A few Vanguard students beg to differ. Mabel Vega, a 20-year-old former Vanguard University student, befriended one of these girls a year ago when she went down to Ensenada as part of the school’s outreach program. Vanguard has been taking students to Mexico for outreach programs for about 20 years.

The Orange County Fairground’s board of directors decided to postpone moving forward with a controversial sightseeing tower proposed for the grounds, saying they would prefer to have an informal outreach process with the community prior to beginning the formal Environmental Impact Review process. “What we wanted to do was step back from that formal process today and have a conversation with the community and local stakeholders,” said Senior Vice President Steve Beazley.

UCI emergency care providers and others will conduct a clinical trial on methods of resuscitation for victims of severe traumatic injury. The Orange County Resuscitation Outcomes Consortium will conduct a clinical trial that will treat victims of traumatic injury with a hypertonic saline solution as part of the medical response. Other studies have shown this treatment method to be effective in increasing the potential for survival. Normally, clinical trials need patient consent in order to be used, but this study has been granted special privileges as the product has been proven to be safe, and there will be several community outreach discussions and opt-out measures for those who do not want to participate.

Share Our Selves founder Jean Forbath will be honored Oct. 9 at the nonprofit's 20th annual Celebrity Chef Dinner. Forbath started the nonprofit in 1970 to properly address the need for lower-income outreach services in Orange County. She served for 22 years as the unpaid executive director, 30 years as the full-time coordinator of the holiday Adopt a Family Project, and 39 years on SOS' board, including being chairman with her husband, Frank, according to a news release.

Like many college students, Vanguard University junior Daisy Navarro eagerly anticipates the arrival of spring break each year because it implies a trip to Mexico with several of her closest friends. But Navarro and her companions don't spend their vacation partying on Cancun's beaches. They recently returned from Ensenada, where Navarro worked eight-hour days renovating a local orphanage and entertaining its children. "I had a lot of papers to write and other things to study for, but it's about leaving those things behind and taking the time to help others," said Navarro, who also volunteers at House of Hope, a local shelter for battered women.

-- Matt Grenert Nelson Torres has been named as the April recipient of Vanguard University's Outstanding Service Award. "I feel loved and blessed in receiving this honor, thank you very much." Torres said on receiving the award. Torres is a senior business administration major who has been active on campus and served as a resident assistant on Vanguard Hall's third floor. He also has been involved in the university's "Hands Across the Border" student outreach ministry, both as a translator and a counselor.

Sitting criss-cross on the floor, four kindergartners each placed a hand on the double bass towering over them to feel the vibrations as it was played. "Wow! How does that feel?" asked Pacific Symphony bassist Doug Basye. "Does it tickle?" Basye gave a lesson Thursday morning to a class of kindergartners at Victoria Elementary School on how the double bass works, the different sections of the orchestra and the works of American composer Aaron Copland. It was all part of Class Act, a partnership between the Costa Mesa-based Pacific Symphony and schools, to connect students with musicians and introduce them to a composer.

COSTA MESA — Interim Police Chief Steve Staveley has a message for his successor: "You may hate me for this, but do it. " After all, the Costa Mesa community might just get used to these "Chief's Office Hours" on Tuesdays, where residents can meet with the chief on anything they want to discuss. "It's just one of those outreach things you got to do," Staveley said Wednesday, the morning after hosting his first open-door session, where half a dozen residents showed up. Staveley said he's writing a memo, adding to it a couple sentences here and there, on what ideas he has for the next chief, particularly in community outreach.

Share Our Selves founder Jean Forbath will be honored Oct. 9 at the nonprofit's 20th annual Celebrity Chef Dinner. Forbath started the nonprofit in 1970 to properly address the need for lower-income outreach services in Orange County. She served for 22 years as the unpaid executive director, 30 years as the full-time coordinator of the holiday Adopt a Family Project, and 39 years on SOS' board, including being chairman with her husband, Frank, according to a news release.

The 19th Assistance League of Newport-Mesa Medallion Debutante Ball presented 10 exceptional young women to local society July 18. More than 200 family members and close friends joined hands applauding the accomplishments of the debutantes at an elegant Sunday evening coming-of-age ceremony held at the Balboa Bay Club & Resort in Newport Beach. A celebration that caps four years of community service that begins in the ninth grade, the debutantes first take their path as members of the "Assisteens Auxiliary.

Newport Harbor High School junior Jason Cernius, 17, likes shooting hoops and playing pingpong with his little brother, 15-year-old Andrew. “I didn’t think that he would be able to do the things other brothers do at first, but I taught him how to play sports,” Jason said. Andrew, who has problems with language and social skills, was diagnosed with autism at age 3. He was diagnosed with brain cancer when he was 16 months old and given only a 20% chance of survival.

Share Our Selves Free Medical Clinic received the 2009-2010 Community Outreach Immunization Award, Honorable Mention, from the American Pharmacists Association. The award was given in recognition of Share Our Selves’ extraordinary contributions toward improving the community’s vaccination rates. Mary Ann Huntsman, Pharm D, SOS Director of Pharmacy, accepted the award on March 14, 2010 at the APhA Annual Meeting and Exposition in Washington DC. “The APhA Immunization Champion Award was a wonderful validation of the work done at Share Our Selves to improve the health of our community,” stated Dr. Huntsman.

The city of Costa Mesa is working with three neighboring cities and Southern California Edison to reach out to the public with an educational program about saving and consuming energy efficiently. Costa Mesa, Westminster, Huntington Beach and Fountain Valley have formed the Orange County Energy Leadership Partnership and entered into an agreement with Edison. It’s a collective attempt to launch combined energy-saving programs that could benefit the community at large. Through the partnership, the four cities will receive about $4 million in grants over the next three years from the California Public Utilities Commission.

It was a year of transition for the Orange County Sheriff?s Harbor Patrol, as the unit saw two new leaders in one year and had to deal with the prospect of a smaller budget and new laws. Among the first changes was enforcing new requirements for boats anchored off Corona del Mar State Beach. Until a January council meeting, unmanned boats could be anchored off the coast for weeks at a time. The problem was that anchor chains and lines would break and boats would drift away. The new ordinance limited the time sailors can be away from their boat and how long they can anchor off the coast.

From 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. today , Kaiser Elementary, 2130 Santa Ana Ave., Costa Mesa, will hold a holiday boutique in its multipurpose room featuring local artisans. Proceeds from the boutique benefit the Kaiser Outreach Program, which provides assistance to families in need whose children attend Kaiser. In addition to products for sale like gourmet foods, plants, accessories, home decor and candles, there will be a raffle, Starbucks coffee and cookies. For more information, call the school at (949)

The Tustin Area Council for Fine Arts (TACFA) will reveal the name of this year’s Broadway in the Park selection at an invitation-only party to be held at JT Schmid’s Restaurant and Brewery in Tustin’s The District on March 2, 2009. Major donors to   both past and this year’s Broadway in the Park productions will be treated to appetizers and entertainment as they await the announcement of this year’s choice. Entertainment for the evening will be provided by LimonCarr Productions, a partner with TACFA in putting on the summer musical event.