Casting for the Pageant of the Masters will be held at the Irvine Bowl Park, 650 Laguna Canyon Road, on Friday and Saturday, Jan. 4 and 5, from 7-9 p.m. and Sunday, Jan. 6, from 2-5 p.m.
Prospective volunteers of all sizes, who can stand still for 90 seconds, will be measured and photographed and will meet Pageant staff.
“It takes over 500 volunteers, both onstage and behind-the-scenes, to put on the Pageant. We wouldn’t have a show without our volunteers,” said Director Diane Challis Davy.
Pageant volunteers are also needed for positions in the wardrobe, make-up, and head dressing departments, and to be cast area coordinators and refreshment servers. Next summer’s performances of the Pageant of the Masters will run nightly starting at 8:30 p.m. from July 7 to Aug. 31. Call 94-494-3663 for more information.
Garden Club Gives $6,500 to School Programs
On Wednesday, Dec. 5, Nancy Englund, President of the Laguna Beach Garden Club, presented three Laguna Beach Schools with checks for their school gardens.
Thurston Middle School’s Canyon View Learning Garden is in great shape after a fall harvest, Englund said in a statement. The LBGC donated $3,500 to help build raised beds for the gardens to stave off gophers that were wreaking havoc last season. The continued financial support of the LBGC has allowed Thurston to grow and irrigate their edibles garden, provided funding for tools and seed, and helped maintain garden fencing. Thurston’s Eco Club has also created a landscape design for a butterfly garden.
The Learning Garden at El Morro Elementary received $1,500 from LBGC and continues to engage students in all aspects of gardening and nutrition with hands-on activities in the garden from planting, weeding and general maintenance to harvesting and enjoying the fruits of their labor. Garden-themed lesson plans are used to enhance the students’ understanding of math, science, nutrition, reading and writing.
Top of the World Elementary received $1,500 to help maintain its 30 raised beds and 25 fruit trees on campus. Each month all kindergarten through 5th grade classes (600 students) visit the gardens for hands-on learning. This year they are working on a medicinal garden as part of their five-year plan, as well as adding plant signage with interactive QR codes.
Village Laguna Presents Annual Donations
On Monday, Dec. 17, local nonprofit Village Laguna hosted representatives from a number of local organizations that help better the community and awarded them grants. In addition, Village Laguna also awarded a scholarship to a Laguna Beach High School graduating senior, a tradition since 1978. The senior is chosen based on leadership and involvement in activities that protect the environment and promote humanitarian goals.
Village Laguna’s charitable donations were presented to: Hallie Jones, of the Laguna Canyon Foundation; Betsy Jenkins, of the Laguna Beach High School graduating senior scholarship program; Lisa Talmage, of the Friendship Shelter; Johanna Felder, president of Village Laguna; Anne Frank, of the Laguna Beach Historical Society; Bonnie Teder and Janet Waters, representing La Playa Center/Day Workers Center; Greg O’Loughlin, of the South Laguna Community Garden; Jinger Wallace, of Kelpfest; Mike Beanan, of the Laguna Bluebelt; Mark Orgill, of the Laguna Beach Community Clinic; and Suriya Khan, of the Laguna Pantry.
Local Couple Gives Families a Home for the Holidays
Holly and David Wilson, of Laguna Beach, recently donated $53,000 to Mercy House to help provide 18 families with a place to stay for the holidays.
Mercy House provides housing and comprehensive supportive services for the homeless and is one of the 22 member agencies of the Family Solutions Collaborative. This collaborative includes homeless service providers whose mission is to analyze the efficacy of current resources for homeless families and to inform systemic changes that will end homelessness for children and families in Orange County.
This month, the Family Solutions Collaborative had 18 families they were trying to help and house. A 30-day stay at a local hotel is approximately $3,000; for 18 families that’s a total of $54,000.
The Wilsons donated a check for $53,000 to allow Mercy House—in partnership with Collette’s Children’s Homes, Families Forward, Family Assistance Ministries, Illumination Foundation, Pathways of Hope, and Serving People in Need—to provide the families with a home for the holidays. Wilson Automotive chipped in the additional $1,000 needed and is now working with Mercy House to get each of these families “adopted” for Christmas, so there will be gifts under their trees.
For additional information on Mercy House, contact Irene Drissen or Patti Long at 714-836-7188.
Canyon Conservancy to Honor Carolyn Wood
At the Monday, Jan. 7, meeting of the Laguna Canyon Conservancy, vice president Harry Huggins will present a program honoring Carolyn Wood.
Now president emerita, Wood was a founding member of the LCC in 1988 and served as president into 2016. Wood studied development in the late ‘70s and ‘80s and organized a library of information. She monitored and evaluated all that was being proposed, approved and implemented. Wood shared this information widely during her 22-year career with Laguna Woods cable television. The highest point in Laguna Beach, the Carolyn Wood Knoll, is named in her honor.
The 6:30 p.m. LCC dinner meeting will be held at Seven 7 Seven (formerly Tivoli Too!) at Art-A-Fair, 777 Laguna Canyon Road. The event is open to the public—to register, visit www.lagunacanyonconservancy.organd click “upcoming events” and “register now,” email Linda Mayer at [email protected], or call 714- 812-6813.
Dinner tickets are $15 for members or $20 for non-members and may be paid at the door with prior reservations.
Free Christmas Tree Recycling
Waste Management will collect Christmas trees from curbsides Dec. 26 through Jan. 18 for recycling. The agency asks that decorations and stands be removed and that trees taller than 6 feet be cut in half. Flocked trees cannot be recycled and will be collected with trash.
Orange County residents may also drop off their Christmas trees to be recycled at Waste Management’s Sunset Environmental Transfer Station: 16122 Construction Circle West, Irvine, Monday to Friday, 6 a.m.–7 p.m.; or Saturday 6 a.m.–5 p.m.
Laguna Food Pantry Seeking Donations
The Laguna Beach Food Pantry is currently taking donations. Items needed include tuna, macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, pasta and pasta sauce, rice and beans and cereal. The pantry is located at 20652 Laguna Canyon Road, but donations can also be dropped off at U.S. Bank at 310 Glenneyre Street.
