CINDY TRANE CHRISTESON -- The moral of the story

o7 “The sense of wonder at the compassion of God causes one to look at

others with the same sense of love and care.”

-- John Yates

f7

If you put 125 business, social and civic leaders together for more than

10 hours per week for almost three months, what would you get? A seminar?

No. A plan for redevelopment? Not hardly.

What you get, and what I thoroughly enjoyed watching last week, was a

musical comedy called “CHOC Follies IV, Fabulous Fables and Twisted

Tales.”

CHOC Follies is a charity benefit for Children’s Hospital of Orange

County, and since its debut four years ago, the annual event has raised

more than $500,000 for the hospital.

I go to CHOC Follies every year for two main reasons: my friends. The

first friend is Stephanie Bond -- who has a heart of gold and a voice

destined for platinum. With her show-stopping voice, she has been in the

show for three years.

“I want to use the gifts and talents that God gave me to benefit others,”

Stephanie said. “I love it. I love the people and I love that I can sing

and bring in money for the children.

“I also love seeing successful people want to give back to the community.

I think people are surprised at the level of talent when you consider

that so many of them are not normally on stage.”

She’s right. From the moment the curtain rose to the finale, I was

impressed by the cast members, as they entertained us with songs and

portrayed characters from fairy tales and cartoons.

The second friend is CHOC itself. I’m sad to say that my sister, Marty,

and her husband, Dave, spent more time at CHOC than they care to

remember, but they do recall how wonderful the people were.

“They were like family,” Marty said. “They helped us get through a

horrible experience in the most gentle way possible.”

When Marty and Dave’s son, David, was just 9 months old, he ended up at

CHOC, critically ill with congestive heart failure and double pneumonia.

David was there for three weeks, and he returned again two years later

for open-heart surgery.

“Everyone was wonderful and did an exceptional job. We feel very blessed

to have received such quality care,” Marty said.

Today, David is a delightful 15-year-old and is active in school, sports

and church.

At the follies, near the end of the performance, a handsome young

performer named Andrew Cipolla spoke eloquently about what CHOC means to

him.

“I spent eight years at CHOC battling leukemia,” he said. “CHOC is the

people. CHOC is the nurse who held me in her arms when I was 10 years

old, when I had a bad night. CHOC is the doctor who gave me her home

phone number in case I needed to call. CHOC is the nurses who cried when

I left the hospital.

“Thank you for playing a role in saving other Andrews like me.”

It took awhile for me to realize the clapping had stopped and another

song begun. A phrase in that song captures so much of the meaning behind

the performance, and it is the phrase I will close my column with today:

“There can be miracles when you believe.”

And you can quote me on that.