B.W. COOK -- The Crowd

A small yet significant nonprofit headquartered in Costa Mesa known as

Women Helping Women is planning a free community breakfast March 9 at the

Irvine Marriott Hotel. The event will reinforce the Newport-Mesa

community connection to Women Helping Women, founded in 1995, and its

mission to assist abused and low-income women in their transition from

dependence to economic and emotional self-sufficiency.

“The goal of Women Helping Women is to break the cycle of poverty and

despair, enabling women to support themselves and their families and to

enhance their self-esteem through programs and services,” said Kathy

Haze, director of development for the organization.

Haze said Women Helping Women provides professional clothing for job

interviews, computer classes, job search assistance and referrals to

other community services in the region, in addition to partnering with

various other community service organizations to fill voids in the

overall relief picture for women seeking to reenter society.

For more information about the breakfast or Women Helping Women, call

Haze at (949) 631-2333.

* * *

A cocktail reception will be held Friday to open an exhibit of artist

Howard Ben Tre’s work at the Orange County Museum of Art. The event is

for donors and museum supporters.

The following day, Ben Tre will offer a noon lecture at the museum.

The free lecture, which is open to the public, will kick off the opening

of his exhibition, which runs through May 6.

This traveling exhibition comes to Orange County from the Scottsdale

Museum of Contemporary Art in Arizona and has been made possible here in

Newport Beach by the generous support of Charles and Twyla Martin, Harold

and Sandy Price, Gordon and Hannareta Fishman, the Baker Frenzel Family,

Laura and John Gamble, Pam and James Muzzy, Georgia and Robert Roth,

Jeanne and David Tappan, and Joan and Tom Riach.

* * *

The much-loved Sharon McNalley of Corona del Mar -- widow of the late

Dr. Michael McNalley, who founded Hoag Hospital’s Cardiology Department

-- celebrated the life of her husband in conjunction with the first

anniversary of their son Joe McNalley’s very special musical group, the

Hutchins Consort, with a sold-out concert at the Irvine Barclay Theatre

last week.

More than 500 people attended the program presented by the Hutchins

Consort, named for famed luthier Carleen Hutchins. The ensemble of

talented musicians is comprised of performers on eight acoustically

matched violins, varying in size from treble to large bass.

The instruments were actually designed and crafted by Hutchins, and

the consort is the first permanent group of musicians to perform on the

violin octet. The only other complete sets of these instruments are not

found on the concert stage but rather in museums in both America and

Europe.

The success of this undertaking has been a labor of love for the

McNalley family, in particular for Joe McNalley, who is the consort’s

artistic director, and his dedicated musical mother, Sharon.

Supporting the program and attending the performance were local

society patrons Gayle Widyolar and David Scott, Susan Cederstrom and Noel

Torgerson, Michael Radin, Michael and Diane Stephens, Norman and Neshat

Bain, Vesta Curry, Jan Landstrom, Susan Beechner, Alexi Maradudin, Gloria

Gae and Irwin Gellman, Ed and Helen Shanbrom, Robert and Bonnie Egan,

Dean Corey and Marjorie Rawlins, representing the National Advisory Board

for the Hutchins Consort.

* THE CROWD appears Thursdays and Saturdays.