At the heart of the event
Last Halloween Karen Jordan dressed up her children, packed her check
book and headed out to the Newport Coast Cares Halloween Carnival to
see what kind of fun she could scare up.
She didn’t really know the organization’s co-founders, Laura
Giffin and Brigitte Tehranchi. Their children went to the same school
and word around town was that the happening spot for ghoulish
entertainment was at the neighborhood shopping center.
“I just thought it was this fun thing, sort of what was going on,
the community-type thing,” the Newport Coast resident said. “I
thought I was just going there to play and buy some stuff. I knew it
was for a good cause, I just didn’t know what the cause was exactly.”
This year, Jordan can tell you what the cause is -- exactly.
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.
This year, Jordan has been instrumental in the planning process of
the second annual carnival and Jordan, Giffin and Tehranchi have
become “dear friends.”
“I have met some of the greatest people,” Jordan said. “This is
just so grass roots. It is not administrative like [some other
charitable organizations]. They are just fantastic and emotionally
connected.”
They? You mean, “we,” Giffin said. Jordan has been crucial to the
success of the Newport Coast Cares because of her brains, heart and
generosity.
“She has just enabled us to pick it up some notches,” Giffin said.
“She is so bright and has really taken a leadership role in the
planning.”
So what does Jordan say is the highlight for this year’s carnival?
“The auction,” she said listing the great prizes she walked away
with last fall. “Ay ya yay! I got baby clothes, baby-sitting from a
company, a catered meal out on a Duffy boat ... what else, a basket
of kids toys -- so much stuff.”
-- Story by Lolita Harper
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