Around Town: Fundraiser collects $37,000 for veterans museum at fairgrounds
More than 200 people attended a fundraiser Sunday for a planned veterans museum at the Orange County fairgrounds in Costa Mesa.
The event at Hussongs restaurant raised about $37,000 for Heroes Hall, said Nick Berardino, a retired labor leader who serves on the Heroes Hall foundation and is a director of the fairgrounds.
Berardino said the fundraiser brought together politicians and luminaries, both Republican and Democrat. “We’re all coming together with this project,” he said.
Berardino said the foundation is looking to raise $400,000, and after about four weeks of raising money, it has about $100,000. Of that, $25,000 has come from the Orange County Employees Assn. and the city of Costa Mesa.
The Orange County Board of Supervisors and the city of Huntington Beach also are expected to donate, Berardino said.
Costa Mesa Mayor Steve Mensinger, who attended the event, called Heroes Hall “a great cause. It’s a cause that transcends political and ideological differences.”
He noted that Costa Mesa was the first city to donate.
“I think all cities should step up and support our veterans,” Mensinger said. “In this facility, it will teach our young about the sacrifices of our veterans.”
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Newport Beach rabbi receives care award
Rabbi Reuven Mintz, director of the Chabad Jewish Center in Newport Beach and a volunteer at Pastoral Care Services at Hoag Hospital, is the July/August recipient of Fairhaven Memorial Park & Mortuary’s Oliver Halsell Care Award.
Fairhaven, with locations in Santa Ana and Mission Viejo, created the recognition program in 2012 to honor those who have improved the lives of others through their professional and community efforts.
“There is no greater joy than the joy derived through helping others, especially those who need it most,” Mintz said in a statement. “The pastoral care services at Hoag help people cope with loss and sickness during dark periods of their life, and I’m honored to be a part of this supportive system.”
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Nonprofit to treat girls to Costa Mesa trip
A Santa Ana-based nonprofit will take about 20 girls to Costa Mesa on Thursday for eating and pampering at South Coast Plaza and The Lab Antimall.
As part of the Community Service Programs trip, the girls will also go to Anaheim Hills Golf Course for a three-course lunch.
The event is “meant to steer young, at-risk girls in the right direction,” according to a news release. It’s a reward for girls who have maintained a minimum 2.0 grade point average, have no behavioral issues or unexcused absences from school and have completed 35 community service hours during the school year.
The girls are from Anaheim junior high schools, including South, Sycamore and Ball. The event is associated with the Gang Reduction Intervention Partnership, or GRIP.
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Local youths to participate in Navajo Code Talkers Day
Costa Mesa youths from the Tustin Young Marines will travel to Window Rock, Ariz., in August to participate in Navajo Code Talkers Day, an event that recognizes Native Americans who used their languages for secret communications during World War II.
“The contribution of the Navajo code talkers to America’s campaign in the Pacific is a fascinating period in our history and one that should not be lost,” Mike Kessler, national executive director and chief executive of the Young Marines, a nonprofit youth leadership program, said in a statement. “Just being around these special veterans makes us feel as though we are able to take a step back in time.
“The general public needs to know that someone is looking out for their legacy, and that someone is the Young Marines. What a great opportunity for us all just to be here with the code talkers.”