Donor helps replace funds

Less than a month after Huntington Beach’s children’s libraries were defrauded by mysterious counterfeiters, they’ve been blessed by the kindness of strangers.

Organizers of the Taste of Huntington Beach, a fundraiser that benefits the children’s wing of Huntington Beach Central Library and the Boys & Girls Clubs of Huntington Valley, discovered in May that about 200 counterfeit tickets had been sold for the event.

The counterfeit sales, which police are still investigating, deprived the library of more than $11,000.

Then, in mid-May, a local man called Erika Reardon, the event’s chairwoman, and said he wanted to make a donation to help the organizers recoup their losses.

She and her colleagues expected a small handout — until the man walked into the Central Library on May 11 and presented the librarian with a $5,000 check.

“I about fell out of my chair,” Reardon said. “I was just floored.”

The man opted to remain anonymous, but Elaine Parker, the president of Friends of the Children’s Library, said he was a former schoolteacher and had donated the check on behalf of his family.

The library’s five branches, she said, were busy creating “wish lists” for what to do with the $1,000 each of them would receive.

“Other than a big ‘thank you’ to these people, there’s not much we can say,” Parker said. “It was far beyond the call of duty.”

Despite the loss of proceeds due to the counterfeiting, Parker’s group still made $20,000 from the event in addition to the $5,000 donation.

At the City Council meeting Monday, Reardon and other library supporters presented Friends of the Children’s Library with a check, after which Parker told the crowd about the anonymous benefactor.

The Taste of Huntington Beach, held April 26, brought together restaurants from across the city to provide samples of food and wine to patrons.

Tickets for the event ran from $52 to $60, while the counterfeiters sold their tickets for a mere $20.

Reardon said when the man called her wanting to contribute money, the gesture meant more to her than the actual amount.

When she learned the value of the gift, though, it came as a welcome shock.

“It definitely renewed our faith,” Reardon said. “When you’re a volunteer organization, faith is about all you’ve got.”

City Editor MICHAEL MILLER can be reached at (714) 966-4617 or at michael.miller@latimes.com.