THE CROWD:

They called it “Under the Harvest Moon.”

The annual Serving People In Need gala took place recently to honor Wells Fargo Bank and its support of the needy in Orange County.

The Hilton Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach was the setting for a lavish dinner created by executive chef Jeff Littlefield, who joined forces with Andrew Sutton, the executive chef at Napa Rose restaurant in the Grand Californian Hotel at Disneyland. The evening was attended by more than 250 guests and raised more than $150,000 for the programs at Serving People In Need.

Major sponsors of the evening were Dick and Kim Crawford. Dick is the dedicated chairman of the Serving People In Need board. The local developer has a long-standing commitment to the community chest and has served the poor in a variety of functions for many years.

Also supporting the organization were Dave and Cheri Ekdal, Frank and Peggy Listi, Kevin and Lora Baldridge, Dick and Karen Nichol, Mary Lynn Bergman Rallis and a large contingent of corporate sponsors.

Newport’s dynamic Linda White Peters,who has championed development at UCI and Chapman University works with the Discovery Science Center and reported that the Taco Bell Corporation was recently honored with the Arnold O. Beckman Award at a gala dinner attended by 400 community leaders.

The early fall event billed as “Science Southern California Style,” netted more than $250,000 for the Discovery Science Center’s educational programs.

Funds raised were greater than any sum contributed at any previous galas.

Co-chaired by Julie McDorman and Kristin Crellin, the elegant black-tie evening featured a lively performance by students attending the Orange County High School of the Arts. Dinner was served by Turnip Rose as guests mingled and table-hopped.

Discovery Science Center President Joe Adams joined board Chairman Dan Bolar in presenting the honors to Taco Bell Corporation, which made an initial contribution of $2 million to the fledgling center in 1998 and has since helped to raise an additional $8 million, placing the company at the very top of the list of donors to the Discovery Science Center.

The honors were accepted by Jonathan Blum, former Taco Bell chief executive, and Taco Bell Chief Financial Officer Melissa Lora. In addition to the accolades for Taco Bell, Adams announced at the gala that the Boeing Co. will gift a $1 million sum to a fundraising campaign to build a planetary experience at the Discovery Science Center. For more information on supporting the institution log onto LSWhite@Discoverycube.org.

New Directions for Women, a nonprofit residential treatment facility in Costa Mesa assisting women recovering from drug and alcohol addiction, hosted its 13th annual Fall Classic Charity Golf Tournament at Strawberry Farms Golf Club in Irvine.

Organizers combined fashion with sports calling the event “Couture on the Course.” In the middle of the 18-hole best-ball golf tournament, players broke for brunch and a fashion show and then returned to the course to finish the round of golf.

Following the tournament dinner, an awards ceremony helped to raise additional funds for New Directions. For more information on the organization, contact Kim Farthing at (949) 548-5546, ext. 502, or go to www.newdirectionsforwomen.org.

Actress Jenny McCarthy was in Newport recently as part of a national book tour promoting awareness for autism in children.

Reaching what some medical experts claim has become a national childhood epidemic, autism is affecting countless children from a diverse cross section of cultural, ethnic and economic backgrounds.

Jenny’s young son is afflicted with autism, and she is a spokeswoman for the cause.

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