Carnivals that care

Indulata Prasad

Laura Giffin’s interest in orphanages began after listening to a

friend tell stories of visiting them every month in Mexico.

“We sort of fell in love with the children and the cause,” said

Giffin, a Newport Beach resident who co-founded Newport Coast Cares

four years ago along with Brigitte Tehranchi.

Newport Coast Cares has held four carnivals at the Newport Coast

Shopping Center, raising more than $100,000 for orphanages in Mexico.

This year, the organization is holding a “Harvest Carnival” in

partnership with Mariners Church, from 4 to 7 p.m. Oct. 31 in the

Irvine church’s parking lot. More than 2,000 people are expected to

attend.

Proceeds will go to three organizations that run orphanages in

Mexico and Lighthouse Ministries, an Orange County group that assists

the poor and needy within the county.

Mariners has held a similar event for years and made its

facilities available when the Newport Coast Cares carnival became too

big for the shopping center.

“[Our] event has been going for 15 years at Mariners Church,” said

Meeshee Scherrei, a pastor at Mariners. “We felt it was time to

refresh it.”

Giffin, 40, is a stay-at-home mom who got into volunteering to set

an example for her two sons, Jake and Kyle.

“We live in an affluent area. We didn’t want them to grow up

feeling life is supposed to be an easy ride,” Giffin said.

Since starting Newport Coast Cares, Giffin has been to Mexico

several times, visiting the orphanages and spending time with the

children there. What started as compassion toward the children turned

into a commitment to backing them up and helping them financially.

Giffin said she wanted to ensure that the money raised wouldn’t

land in anonymous funds somewhere and end up being used up for

administrative expenditures.

“From the beginning, Brigitte and I wanted to be in direct touch

with the grass roots,” said Giffin.

Carnivals were an easy choice for Giffin, who met Tehranchi five

years ago through their children.

“It is so rewarding to see our community come together and seeing

the generosity of their friends and neighbors as they contribute

something of themselves to makes this happen. I love their

cooperative effort,” Giffin said.

Although Newport Coast Cares has been successful in its

fundraising, it is not a year-round operation. Giffin said most of

the group’s volunteers are stay-at-home mothers like her and

volunteer time in between their other responsibilities.

Once this year’s carnival is over, Giffin said she intends to

register Newport Coast Cares as a nonprofit organization. Now that

her children are in elementary school, she hopes to have more time to

devote to the organization.

“I am planning to spend more time and incorporate Newport Coast

Cares into a nonprofit so that we can have more options open to us

for fundraising,” Giffin said.