Raiser

-- Young Chang The Jewish Federation of Orange County will pool together commitments made to its 2002 annual campaign during an outreach fund-raiser on March 10. Called Jewish Community Super Sunday, the event will draw together eight local beneficiary agencies and hundreds of volunteers as organizers try to pool funds to help seniors, teens and college students remain connected to their Jewish identity. Funds from the Federation also help humanitarian aid programs for Israeli families struggling with the effects of terrorism.

-- Elise Gee FAIRGROUNDS -- The Junior League of Orange County's fund-raiser and shopping extravaganza, The Christmas Company, is expected to offer more than all of its previous annual events, organizers said. The Junior League will kick off its signature fund-raiser Saturday with a black-tie gala reception. The shopping event, in its 24th year, has raised more than $3.5 million to date, with a record $381,000 raised in 1997 alone. Dozens of vendors, holiday shopping and special events -- such as Breakfast with Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa -- are among of the highlights.

NEWPORT BEACH - The Newport Aquatic Center junior rowing team will hold its ergathon alumni day fund-raiser Saturday from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. at the facility at One Whitecliffs Drive. Athletes will row up to 20,000 miles on rowing simulation machines, but will row 1,000 miles less for each $10 contribution they collect. A barbecue, as well as a dedication ceremony for two new four-person boats acquired with public donations, will also be held and NAC junior rowing alumni, prospective junior rowers, as well as community members, are invited to take part.

Danette Goulet COSTA MESA -- A fund-raiser this month for Brianna Olympius, a 9-year-old Costa Mesa girl who underwent surgery last month to remove a benign brain tumor, brought in $44,000 to help pay her medical bills. Brianna, a fourth-grade student at Newport Heights Elementary School, was diagnosed with the brain tumor last month. She underwent a grueling seven-hour surgery in which 90% of the tumor at her brain stem was removed. Since then, she has had two innovative, noninvasive gamma knife treatments.

-- Paul Clinton A tile painting fund-raiser for the Newport Mesa Unified School District will be held today and Sunday at Triangle Square, Newport Boulevard and 19th Street in Costa Mesa. Color Me Mine, on the mall's fourth floor, is donating 1,000 tiles, which will be sold to members of the public for $20 each. The money raised by the event will go to fund art programs at district schools. Costa Mesa Councilman Gary Monahan is scheduled to present an award at the fund-raiser at 2 p.m. today.

Young Chang Nanci Kapp used to breeze through the doors of Fidelity Federal Bank in Newport Beach and make an impression while doing something as mundane as depositing a check. When she looked fancy, her tellers would ask where she was coming from. The answer usually involved some sort of fund-raiser and one of her many causes. For about eight years, the bank staff got to learn that Kapp was a sprightly person -- someone who was active with arts organizations, someone who dated, someone who roller-bladed, golfed, paddled her kayak and danced all in the same weekend.

Veronica Duran NEWPORT BECH -- It soon will be a mother-son affair at the Elks Lodge. Nina Cross Brazleton and her son, Chris Brazleton, will join the once all-male lodge Sept. 23 -- just days after the organization celebrates its 50th anniversary. A retired Bolsa Grande High School teacher, Nina Cross Brazleton has served as vice president for the Newport-Harbor chapter of City of Hope, working with Girl and Boy Scout groups and serving as a judge for the Knott's Americanism contests and the Academic Decathlon.

Jennifer Kho COSTA MESA -- Waving picket signs, wearing their warm-up suits and screaming at passing cars in front of a Mobil gas station Monday morning, the Estancia High School girls basketball team protested the loss of their biggest fund-raiser of the year. "Honk if you support us!" they yelled. "Don't buy your gas here because Mobil doesn't support us. Go to Texaco or something." The girls said that the gas station wouldn't let them have a fireworks stand this year in their usual spot behind the station on an adjacent property.

So the other day, I'm sitting in the newsroom with one of our newer editors, discussing something important I'm sure, when I noticed he was glancing up at the TV that sits in the corner of our newsroom. The TV was tuned to the Orange County Newschannel, proving of course, to those readers who thought we just watched soap operas or Laker games all day, that we stay on top of the news. Anyway, the editor mentions that the two people who are taking part in some talk-show type discussion on the TV sure look to him like a couple of George W. and Laura Bush impersonators.

Due largely to family support, Corona del Mar High School parent Loretta Zimmerman continues to lead the money race among candidates for the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board of trustees. Zimmerman, who is facing incumbent Judy Franco and teachers union favorite Sandy Asper, reported $35,565 in contributions in her statement to the Orange County Registrar of Voters on Thursday. Nearly three-quarters of her funding came from her husband, Gregory Zimmerman, who lent her $13,500 in August and added another $12,000 this month.

Friends and neighbors of a couple who lost their son Wednesday to a drive-by shooting will hold a carwash fundraiser today to help the family with funeral expenses. The carwash will be held from 8 a.m. to noon at the Ferrari and Maserati of Orange County dealer at 1425 Baker Street. Agustina Mendoza and Martin Rodriguez lost their 23-year-old son Israel Maciel shortly after 8 p.m. when he and four others were shot in an alley behind his apartment complex in the 1300 block of West Baker Street.

JIM DE BOOM The Costa Mesa Community Athletic Foundation, comprised of local business leaders, educators, city officials and others, has come together under the Costa Mesa United banner to keep the city of Costa Mesa a first-rate city, according to Katrina Anne Foley. The foundation is overseeing the development of a 2,500-seat stadium/athletic facility on the campus of Estancia High School and a 50-meter Olympic-size swimming pool on the campus of Costa Mesa High School.

Deirdre Newman A local Marine has issued a "Code Green" to help the family of Marine Jose "Angel" Garibay, who was killed during the war in Iraq. Madrigal Cuauhtlicoyotl is asking the community to pitch in financially to raise $2,500 for Garibay's family, who spent that amount to attend a memorial service in North Carolina honoring him. Cuauhtlicoyotl spent the last week painting two boxes with his 6-year-old daughter, Raquel, and then placed them in El Metate Market on the Westside.

Lolita Harper Blazing heat, flip-flops and bathing suits don't usually go well with ghosts, ghouls and goblins, but in the minds of leaders from Newport Coast Cares, summer is the perfect time to start planning for Halloween. The Newport Coast Cares Halloween Carnival is in its planning stages now and members are on the hunt for community sponsors interested in donating, time, money or goods for the second-year event. Money raised from the haunting happening will benefit the Corazon de Vida Foundation, a group dedicated to feeding, clothing and providing for orphans in Baja Mexico.

Christine Carrillo Orange Coast College's recent fund-raising efforts that have allowed the college to return 21 classes to the 2003-04 schedule have also turned the college into an example of efficiency for other community colleges in the state. The California Community Colleges chancellor's office will recognize OCC's annual boat auction and marine gear sale during a Board of Governors meeting later this month. One of my duties is to "let the board know what's going on at colleges throughout the state, and I thought this was a really interesting way for a college to fight back against the budget crisis," said Kirsten Macintyre, the public information officer for the chancellor's office.

Playing a round of golf with two football players quickly proved that a golf ball can be hit much further than my thin frame is able to produce. When Newport Coast's R.J. Kros and San Diego's Dokie Williams swung their drivers, a "whoosh" soon followed and the ball would zip off the club as if it had just been launched with rocket fuel behind it. Watching these soaring drives provided the most entertainment during the Orange County Chapter of Childhelp USA's 21st annual Celebrity Golf Classic -- hosted by former Rams all-pro center Rich Saul -- held May 22 at Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Coast.

It was an unforgettable evening in Corona del Mar. Local benefactors Henry and Susan Samueli invited pop music superstar Natalie Cole to their oceanfront estate. It was all for the Orangewood Children's Foundation, one of the charities that Susan Samueli has dedicated her efforts to since moving to Orange County from Los Angeles. The young couple invited 100 guests to share in the evening with Cole, and ultimately raised $167,000 to support The Orangewood Children's Foundation.

A 1959 Cadillac convertible, white with red leather seats, top down, greeted patrons of the 2002 Candlelight Concert at the front door of the Orange County Performing Arts Center. It was nothing less than a kitsch interpretation of Santa's sleigh. Many in the arriving crush of some 500 major donors to the Center posed for a photograph in front of the sleigh before entering for a dazzling evening. Candlelight Concert, now 29 years running, is a tradition started by founding patron Tom Moon in a empty Kresge store in a mall, where patrons were served a spaghetti dinner.