Volunteers

* Helping hands

ORANGE

Fair Organizer Gives Freely of Her Talents

Judy Sollee has devoted a large part of her life to helping people.

“I’ve just decided that it’s a gift,” said Sollee, owner of Judy’s Beauty Salon on Maple Street and president of the 25-member Orange International Street Fair Committee.

Sollee has spent much of the summer planning for the 23rd annual fair, which is expected to draw as many as half a million people this year. She is responsible for arranging all of the entertainment, as well as the scores of booths staffed by nonprofit and volunteer groups, for the three-day fair that begins Friday.

Graphic artist Marshall Feduk, a member of the fair committee, said of Sollee, who is not paid for her work as chairman, “I cannot begin to describe the enthusiasm and energy and love that come from that woman.” Her dedication, he said, “goes above and beyond anything I have ever seen.”

The event raises thousands of dollars for nonprofit groups, all of which must be cleared by the committee to participate. Sollee says she thinks of them as her children.

Sollee, 49, who has five siblings, said she has had a maternal inclination for as long as she can remember.

“Growing up, I was the one to run errands for the elderly and the shut-ins,” she said. “I taught Sunday school.”

To succeed as a volunteer leader, she said, “you have to really care about people. It’s an emotional good feeling.”

That feeling, she said, is her compensation. “If it’s a sacrifice,” she said, “then you haven’t volunteered.”

Organizing the fair is now a year-round project for committee members, Sollee said. They meet every month except December, when they focus their energy instead on adopting the city’s needy families for the holidays.

Sollee’s seemingly inexhaustible energy, she said, would not be enough by itself to keep the fair running efficiently year after year.

“You’ve also got to have a positive attitude,” she said.

City officials say that Sollee’s hard work, devotion and tact are largely responsible for the event’s continuing success.

“She’s a real diplomat,” Mayor Joanne Coontz said. “She spends a lot of time letting people know they do a good job and that she appreciates them. That’s the main thing--she’s really a psychologist too.”

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* Volunteers needed:

What: Helpers for senior citizens

Where: Lakeview Senior Center, 20 Lake Road, Irvine

Mission: To visit, run errands and provide transportation for housebound seniors. Orientation sessions are on the first Wednesday of every month.

Information: (714) 724-6913