Event boosts foster group

Elia Powers

It’s never too late to make major life changes, actress Jamie Lee

Curtis told a group of more than 400 people Wednesday at the Balboa

Bay Club & Resort.

Speaking at the second annual 44 Women for Children scholarship

luncheon, Curtis conveyed the importance of setting a good example

for children.

She also praised the host organization, which provides support to

Orange County’s abused and neglected children.

“I’m honored to be among you,” Curtis said. “Women are the most

powerful and passionate group. Who else would lay down their life for

their family every day?”

A year after bringing first lady of California Maria Shriver as

its keynote speaker, 44 Women for Children recruited Curtis because

of her drawing power and her children’s advocacy work, organization

founder and chairman Susan Samueli said.

The event raised $180,000 earmarked to help foster youth in Orange

County attend college. Funds are distributed through the Orangewood

Children’s Foundation, a private nonprofit organization that provides

shelter and services for the county’s foster children.

Orangewood sponsors more than 250 Orange County youth who are in

college. Last year’s event raised about $125,000.

“Without the proceeds from today, some of our youth wouldn’t get

to go to school,” Orangewood Executive Director Gene Howard said.

“This event is critical to our mission.”

The luncheon was initiated last year to establish a scholarship

endowment in honor of Linda Howard, Gene Howard’s late wife, who had

worked with abused and neglected children through various programs.

About 3,500 children are currently in foster care in Orange

County, Howard said. There are 35,000 reports of child abuse every

year, he added.

An auxiliary of Orangewood Children’s Foundation, 44 Women for

Children also holds events to support peer tutors, some of whom are

foster children who have become self sufficient.

Samueli, a Corona del Mar resident and mother of three children,

started the organization in 1999.

“No mother can stand child abuse,” Samueli said. “Most people

don’t need a reason to get involved in this cause. I wanted to get in

the trenches.”

Samueli, who is a board member at Orangewood, said there were

about 44 women involved when the organization started, hence the

name. That number has grown significantly since then, she said.

At the luncheon, Samueli honored UC Irvine senior Andrea Gordon,

who was awarded the 2005 Jamie Lee Curtis Scholarship for her

volunteerism. Gordon, 23, works two part-time jobs and volunteers

nearly 20 hours per week at her church and as a tutor.

“It’s nice to be recognized for your actions,” Gordon said.

The first recipient of the scholarship, Morgan Kashinsky, came to

the Orangewood Children’s Home when she was 15 because her parents

were abusing drugs and neglected her and her brother.

She graduated from UCI and is pursuing a master’s degree in social

work at USC.

* ELIA POWERS is the enterprise and general assignment reporter.

He may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or by e-mail at

[email protected].