COMMUNITY & CLUBS:First-graders are getting ‘right stuff’

Harbor Mesa Lions will be distributing shoe box school supplies to first-graders at Whittier School Sept. 6. Members have filled the boxes with items such as crayons, pencils, rulers, scissors, glue and other things the children will need to get off to a good start with their education.

“Having the right stuff is important to the students,” said President Gina Stansbury. “Our club has been furnishing these items to the first-graders for the last 10 years and it is one of our favorite projects.”

Teachers furnish a list of items that will enable each student to have the right tools to do their assignments. The project is funded by various benefits the Harbor Mesa Lions put on during the year, such as Casino Night, Spaghetti Splash Dinner, Bingo Night and the annual garage sale. Chairwomen of the program this year are Eunice Thomason, Myrta Sparkes, and Amy Averbach.

 A weekend in Newport

Finally got my wife, Barbara, to leave the heat of Palm Desert for a weekend in Newport Beach last week. We started Friday morning at Shirley’s Bagels in 17th Street with an everything bagel and picked up our copy of the Daily Pilot to read.

On Friday night we ventured to the new Arches Grill on 29th Street in Newport Beach. Owner Dan Marcheano and his fabulous staff have created a venue reminiscent of the old Arches with art work and colors. Marcheano is preparing to open the “Arches on the Water” in October and promises a third venue shortly after that.

With no signage to speak of, no advertising and a somewhat negative perception of a lack of parking, the new Arches Grill has taken off. “We are overwhelmed by the support of the community who have found our new location,” Marcheano said.

Friday night we checked into the newly remodeled Hilton Airport Hotel (beautiful rooms) and Saturday we stayed at the Fairmont Hotel (great Sunday Brunch), just down the street on MacArthur.

Saturday afternoon, Barbara and I went to Dukes Place at the Balboa Bay Club for some appetizers and drinks before we headed on to Sabatino’s Lido Sausage for 7:30 dinner reservations. We did miss the music of Sinatra and Dean Martin, which had been replaced by a karaoke singer

 Worth repeating

From the Thought for the Day as provided by Greg Kelley of the Newport Mesa Irvine Interfaith Council

“Success in life is not determined by how we are doing compared with others but by how we are doing compared to what we are capable of doing. Successful people compete against themselves.”