Festival highlights children’s charities

The 14th annual Festival of Children has returned to Costa Mesa’s South Coast Plaza to raise awareness and funds for children’s charities.

The monthlong celebration kicked off Friday morning with Coffee, Tea, Mommy and Me, an interactive event for families that continues on Fridays through Sept. 25.

The festival, organized by the Costa Mesa-based Festival of Children Foundation, includes family activities, events and entertainment through Sept. 27 at the shopping center in Costa Mesa.

Organizers will showcase more than 75 youth-serving organizations, including Children’s Hospital of Orange County, the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation and the Make-A-Wish Foundation of America.

“Festival of Children is essential to the foundation’s goal of raising awareness for its member charities,” Sandy Segerstrom Daniels, founder of the Festival of Children Foundation and managing partner of South Coast Plaza, said in a statement. “The festival provides children’s charities an opportunity to educate the community on current projects and make outreach to potential donors, volunteers and fellow organizations.”

Daniels added that all participating festival charities, small and large, “have one thing in common: They all do important, meaningful work on behalf of children in the community.”

For a complete list of Festival of Children events, visit festivalofchildren.org.

—Bradley Zint

Twitter: @bradleyzint