Two teens give out party favors

Dane Grace

Two classmates celebrated a birthday party together at the Coastal

Canyon Clubhouse in Newport Beach on Friday with a DJ and Italian

food, but this party was about giving, not receiving.

Samantha Mangione, who will be 14 on Dec. 23, and Rebecca Beyer,

who turned 14 on Oct. 14, asked partygoers to hold the gifts and make

donations instead. Samantha attends Our Lady Queen of Angels School

in Newport Beach. Rebecca attends Harbor Day School in Corona del

Mar.

“At first, I was going to get presents, and then I was like, ‘I

don’t really need presents,’” Samantha said. “I have everything I

really need.”

Samantha chose Ronald McDonald House of Orange County to receive

donations in her name. The Mangione family has been involved with the

Orange County Ronald McDonald House in Orange since it opened 15

years ago and have been longtime donors of time and money. Her family

has owned McDonald’s restaurants for about 35 years and owns nine in

cities across Orange County.

Executive Director Deborah Levy said Samantha is a familiar face

at the house, and earlier this month, Samantha and 10 friends helped

raise $6,000 by selling raffle tickets. But Levy never expected the

teen to give up her birthday gifts.

“It’s highly unusual that a child will want to give up her

birthday presents for charity,” Levy said.

Samantha said she would feel the sacrifice but added that it’s

worth forgoing the gifts.

“I’m usually excited to get presents, so I think about the

families and the children,” Samantha said. “So, I try to think about

it that way.”

The house provides lodging for families who have to travel to

receive treatment for their ill children, who are being treated at

nearby hospitals. The house charges $5 a day, but won’t turn away

families who can’t pay.

Virginia Mangione, Samantha’s mother, said her daughter’s

volunteer experience with the ill and their families influenced her

decision for the birthday celebration.

“She’s been involved with the house and she’s seen what the

families and children go through,” Mangione said.

Rebecca chose the Cystinosis Research Foundation because of a

friend who has the disease, a genetic disorder that causes a build-up

the amino acid -- the building blocks of proteins -- cystine. The

accumulation does damage to the eyes, brain and liver. The disease

often strikes children and can cause muscle wasting. Rebecca has gone

to school with the girl since kindergarten and has known other kids

at the school who’ve made donations. Rebecca just wanted to do her

part.

“I wanted to do it to help my friend,” Rebecca said.

Her mother, Lesley Beyer, said that her daughter’s attitude has

been nothing but positive.

“Rebecca said, ‘The best gift I can have is to make the cure to

Cystinosis a little closer,” Beyer said.