Ballplayers support children’s charity

Cal Ripken Jr., retired Baltimore Orioles shortstop, fronted the eighth annual Ambassador luncheon on behalf of the Orangewood Children’s Foundation.

The recent Friday luncheon event at the Irvine Marriott Hotel brought together a large and passionate contingent of Orange County residents.

Ripken, who wrote a best-selling book titled “Play Baseball the Ripken Way,” is an athlete turned philanthropist, philosopher and community cheerleader. He is spreading a message of good sportsmanship and instructing both parents and children in the possible marriage of athletics with character traits including strength and integrity. Ripken shared with his audience that he is now writing a second book on the subject of sports parenting. It’s due to be published next year.

The luncheon event was hosted by Richard Dutch, chairman of the Ambassador Committee of the Orangewood Foundation. Ambassador donors contribute a minimum of $1,000 per year to the charity and some 900 such donors filled the Irvine Marriott ballroom helping raise nearly a quarter of a million dollars toward the organization’s fourth-quarter fundraising goal of $1.1 million.

O.C. baseball star Doug DeCincis, also a member of the Orangewood Children’s Foundation board, was on hand for the event along with Orangewood’s founding chairman William Lyon, who presented the annual Crystal Vision philanthropy award to Susan Samueli of Corona del Mar. Samueli is the executive director of her family foundation, serving on many local charitable boards, and she is the founding chairman of a group called 44 Women for Children, an auxiliary of the Orangewood Children’s Foundation dedicated to raising college funds for young adults emancipated from the Foster Care system. Henry Samueli joined his wife for the honors, along with David Ritchie, John Hagestead, Mike McCarthy, Tom Dobyns, George Roch, Arte Moreno and Newport’s Shirley and Eric Pepys.

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The Shady Canyon Golf and Country Club was the setting for a spirited luncheon last week supporting the Irvine Public Schools Foundation.

The second annual event brought together donors who have stepped up above and beyond the call to fund programs in the school district. Organizers titled the event “Genius Loves Company” with Laura Baden, wife of Oakley president Colin Baden, co-chairing the party.

Donors, also called “Legacy Partners,” were introduced to Vint Cerf, vice present and chief Internet evangelist at Google. Cerf is considered Father of the Internet and he shared with the crowd an insiders prospective on the communication form that has changed the world.

Anne Leisure and Mary Brown joined Mary Baden in producing the luncheon, which also welcomed Tim Shaw, CEO of the Irvine Public Schools Foundation. Wells Fargo Bank underwrote the affair helping the foundation to raise even more money to benefit the local students.

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An underwriters reception unfolded Monday night at Morton’s, South Coast Plaza Village, welcoming patrons of the upcoming Candlelight Concert benefiting the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

The Monday night at Morton’s has become an annual must do for the social crowd in support of the center. The dinner is more like a family gathering to kick-off the holidays.