Adults Treat Kids to Night at the Circus

Looking for a fail-safe benefit formula?

Find a commercial happening that children and adults can love (big folks love to treat little folks). Build a party around it, and-- voila !--you end up with $20,000 in your coffers.

That’s the way it went for the Orangewood Children’s Foundation on Saturday night when 120 of its supporters attended the grand opening of Cirque de Soleil at South Coast Plaza.

For $100 each, Orangewood boosters--some with their children in tow--attended a buffet reception at the Center Club, went to the circus, and partied with Big Top performers at Crystal Court South Coast Plaza. (For an additional $100, guests could sponsor eight children at the circus. In all, this generous crowd sponsored 230 Orangewood children on opening night.)

“Cirque de Soleil donated the tickets, and we decided to use the event to kick off our Community Campaign,” said William Steiner, executive director of the Orangewood Children’s Foundation, at the Center Club.

In recent months, Orangewood--a residential facility in Orange for neglected children--has been expanded to include three new cottages, four classrooms and an infant care center for babies born with drug addictions.

“We still owe $575,000 on our construction loan,” Steiner said. “This benefit will help us pay off the debt.”

During the festivities, TRW executive Robert Wheeler presented a check for $15,000 to Steiner. “We can see the Orangewood facility from our offices,” Wheeler said during the reception. “So it seemed appropriate that we help support these children. They are our future.”

When it comes to circus-going, give Wheeler the trapeze act every time. “I loved watching the trapeze artists when I was young,” he said. “They were so scary.”

As a kid, Steiner liked to watch the acrobats. “I’ve never been to Cirque de Soleil, and I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.

Also among guests was Jim McNamara, chairman of the Community Campaign. “When I was a kid, I lived in a small Minnesota town that wasn’t big enough to accommodate a circus,” McNamara said. “So we had carnivals, wonderful carnivals. I loved knocking over the Kewpie dolls.”

Alexandra Hughes, daughter of Orangewood board member Lisa Hughes, loves circus clowns, she said. “If I were one, I’d bounce atop a big rubber ball.”

Said Lisa Hughes: “I never got to go to a circus when I was a kid because I was raised in institutions and foster homes.

“When I got on the board of Orangewood, it was the most joyful day of my life, the fulfillment of a commitment I made to myself when I was 12 to contribute to social change. It’s great to be here.”

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Dinner with Domingo: Opera Pacific will stage a dinner honoring Placido Domingo’s appearance in Manuel Penella’s “El Gato Montes” next Jan. 15 at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. The last time Domingo was in town, he charmed the opera set at a chic luncheon and grand post-performance gala. Mark your calendars.

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Roxbury opening: On Monday, we published the wrong date for the opening of the new Roxbury nightclub in Santa Ana. The fund-raiser for Young Professionals Against Cancer will be staged on Feb. 26. Re-mark those calendars.