Charitable partying

Couple decorates garage N’Awlins style and holds fundraiser for convent damaged by flood waters.While many people use their garage for storage, as a workshop or just to park their cars, Margaret Larson and Charles Larson Jr. used theirs as a place to exercise some creativity.

Though the Newport Beach couple still uses the garage as a place to park cars and store tools, they recently redecorated it with an elaborate Mardi Gras theme. They covered their walls, floors and ceiling in bright purple and yellow paint, displayed souvenirs from many visits, hung paintings similar to the art found throughout the French Quarter, and decked the place with tons of Mardi Gras beads. To celebrate the completion of the three-month overhaul, they threw a Mardi Gras theme party on Saturday and invited all their neighbors, friends and co-workers.

“We decided we were going to do something wild and we decided the garage is the best place to do it,” Charles Larson said. “It’s arguably the most smokin’ garage in the county.”

With the recent devastation from hurricanes in the Gulf Coast region, specifically to New Orleans, the Larsons decided the party was the perfect opportunity for them to raise money to help victims.

While visiting New Orleans on a business trip years ago, Charles Larson met a nun dressed in the traditional nun’s habit. He spent some time talking with her and learned all about the Sisters of the Holy Family, a black congregation founded in New Orleans in the 1800s. The congregation focuses its efforts on educating young people and caring for the elderly and the poor.

“They serve the poorest of the poor,” Charles Larson said. They operate facilities for low-income seniors, act as administrators and educators at many schools throughout the United States, and have ministries in Africa and Belize.

After the hurricanes, the Larsons tracked down members of the congregation and found out that their mother house in New Orleans sustained severe flood damage, so they decided their garage party fundraiser would benefit the Sisters of the Holy Family.

Charles Larson said he feels that the sisters are people who obviously would not spend the money on themselves and are doing everything they can to feed and educate the poor.

“Here’s an opportunity to reach right into the heart of poverty,” he said.

The Larsons spent all their own money throwing the bash. And for each of the roughly 40 guests who attended, the Larsons contributed $5 to the fundraiser, which brought in more than $600.

“We wanted to make it special for our guests,” Charles Larson said. They brought in authentic food from Louisiana, such as alligator sausages, crawfish tails, crawfish etouffee and beignet mix from Cafe du Monde. They also played jazz, blues, and Cajun music while serving hurricanes, the popular alcoholic drink associated with the Mardi Gras festival and specifically with Pat O’Brien’s in the French Quarter.

“I think some people sustained their own hurricane damage after our party,” Charles Larson joked.

Gilbert and Trina Morrell, old friends of Charles Larson, packed all four of the children in the car and drove from Temple City, Calif., for Saturday’s party.

“It was a big deal for us to go that far,” Trina Morrell said. “But we wanted to support ... [Charles and Margaret] and their efforts to fund raise for the Sisters of the Holy Family.”

Having never been to New Orleans herself, Trina Morrell said she enjoyed sampling some of the food the city is famous for and also enjoyed learning about the Sisters of the Holy Family.

“The work that these sisters do is really important, so we felt so bad that their convent was damaged,” she said. Charles “is just very generous and thoughtful.... He just cares about people and is very sincere about when something touches his heart as a cause he just goes all the way with it. He’s gotten us involved with a lot of causes.”

Charles Larson said many people who have visited New Orleans feel a deep connection to the city.

“The U.S. is so homogenized culturally,” he said. “But New Orleans -- there ain’t no place like that place any other place.”20051102ipb1jgknPHOTOS BY DANIEL CARAPELLOTTI / DAILY PILOT(LA)Charles and Margaret Larson, far left, recently painted their garage Mardi Gras style and then held a fundraiser for a New Orleans convent. Left, is a Mardi Gras mask.20051102ipb1k6kn(LA)Charles Larson talks to a guest during a fundraiser held to benefit a convent in New Orleans. A picture of Mother Henriette Delille, founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family, hangs on the wall. 20051102ipb1kqknPHOTOS BY DANIEL CARAPELLOTTI / DAILY PILOT(LA)Mardis Gras mask