Hot Month for Debutantes, Police Departments and Hogs for Dogs

The politicos and delegates visiting Los Angeles for the Democratic National Convention may have disrupted downtown traffic in August, but locals went on about their business, especially when it came to fund-raising for nonpolitical causes. The August calendar included:

The 11 young women who will be presented at the Coronet Debutante Ball at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Nov. 28 were introduced at a luncheon held at the Bel-Air Country Club on Aug. 5. Proceeds from the ball will aid the philanthropies of the Los Angeles Founder Chapter of the National Charity League, which include NCL-USC Teacher Center, Head Start Hollywood I and II, Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic and ongoing programs with the USC School of Education.

Three of the Los Angeles Police Department’s finest, Sgt. Joan Leuck and Officers Cynthia French and Romik Keshishi, were lauded for their valor during a January 1999 shootout by the National Assn. of Police Organizations at the seventh annual Top Cops Awards held in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 5.

Also on Aug. 5, the Los Angeles affiliate of the Armenian International Women’s Assn. staged a luncheon featuring jewels by Harry Winston in the Bel-Air gardens of Judy and John Bedrosian. Joan Agajanian Quinn and Lily Ring Balian, co-chairwomen of the event, report that more than $25,000 was raised for the association’s annual conference to be held Oct. 8-11 in Yerevan, Armenia.

The Barlow Foundation Golf Classic, held at the Mountain Gate Country Club in Los Angeles on Aug. 7 to fund Barlow Respiratory Hospital’s Children’s Asthma Camp, Pulmonary Rehabilitation and Ventilator-Weaning Research netted nearly $30,000. . . . The Westlake Yacht Club’s seventh annual Sail-a-Thon on Aug. 12 to benefit the “Create-a-Smile” animal-assisted therapy team raised $20,000.

A Night of the Bulls dinner and charity auction to benefit the California Highway Patrol’s 11-99 Foundation, which assists families of officers injured on duty, raised more than $150,000. The dinner, held at the Newport Beach Four Seasons Hotel, was followed the next morning by the third annual “Running of the Bulls,” a 380-mile run up the coast with Mario Andretti leading 50 Lamborghini Diablos to the Concorso Italiano in Carmel.

The third annual Classic Car Charity Show, staged at the Citadel Factory Stores in Commerce on Aug. 20 to benefit the L.A. County Fire Department in conjunction with the Alisa Ann Ruch Burn Foundation, raised $3,600.

Hogs for Dogs, the fourth annual 60-mile motorcycle run on Aug. 26 to benefit the Pasadena Humane Society, raised more than $18,000.

The 27th annual Jerry Lewis Pre-Telethon Extravaganza grossed $300,000. The black-tie gala, held Aug. 26 at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel, honored George L. Graziadio Jr., co-founder of Imperial Bank, with the Humanitarian of the Year award. Also honored for outstanding achievement were Tim Leiweke, president of Staples Center and the L.A. Kings; and Gene Viglione, vice president of Jim Falk Lexus, Beverly Hills.

Camp Laurel, now in its seventh year of providing year-round camping programs for children living with HIV and AIDS, raised $25,000 at a benefit evening held at the Geffen Playhouse on Aug. 26. . . . The Committee to Rebuild Homeboy Bakery in Boyle Heights raised $30,000 at a fund-raiser at the Bradbury Building in downtown L.A. on Aug. 26. Father Gregory Boyle, a longtime anti-gang violence activist, was the honored guest. . . .

Inaugurating their 96th year in Southern California, the Bachelors send word that they have elected James Porter Scott Shotwell of Manhattan Beach as president. . . . Optimist Youth Homes has named Scott Graham of El Segundo as outstanding volunteer of the year for his support of the agency’s efforts to rehabilitate abused, troubled and emotionally disturbed youths.

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Patt Diroll’s column is published Tuesdays. She can be reached at pattdiroll@earthlink.net.