Festival helps charities

Lindsay Sandham

So many charities, so little time -- at least, that’s what Sandy

Segerstrom Daniels thought.

About five or six years ago, while Daniels was volunteering at

Children’s Hospital of Orange County, the idea of organizing

nonprofits to work together popped into her head.

“It was literally the amount of mail that I kept getting and

requesting donations and going to this party and that party,” she

said.

“What really started the concept was that I was standing there

holding invitations to two different events, and they happened to

both be charity golf tournaments that were a week apart, and I

thought ... ‘Why can’t they work together?’”

Daniels began putting her idea into motion, and what evolved is

the Festival of Children, a monthlong event held at South Coast Plaza

each September.

The event brings different nonprofits and charities together,

giving the public exposure to them while providing customers with

free entertainment. Each of the charities there benefit children and

has been in existence for at least five years.

“It’s really difficult to explain what we do because we’re in the

background,” Daniels said. “We’re not out on the street helping kids,

and we’re not finding cures for cancer, but we’re supporting the

organizations and helping them do their jobs better.”

Many nonprofits are small organizations with minimal staffing and

have trouble marketing services and getting volunteers.

In addition to the festival, which is in its fourth year, the

organization sponsors an annual Volunteer Day at South Coast Plaza

every May, when high school students looking to fulfill community

service hours can scout local charities. This year, 1,500 people

attended the Volunteer Day, Daniels said.

The Festival of Children Foundation was founded about a year ago,

enabling Daniels and her co-workers to provide even more support for

the 120 organizations the festival serves.

One of the ways the foundation helps is by offering seminars on

topics including managing a database and fundraising techniques,

Daniels said. After last year’s festival, they surveyed all the

participating charities to find out what they need help with.

Marilyn Clements -- executive director of Discovery Arts, an

organization based in Orange that visits and entertains children

while they’re hospitalized -- said her organization has benefited

tremendously from its relationship with Festival of Children.

“We’re a very small nonprofit, and we need all the help we can

get,” Clements said. “We’re able to reach people that we would never

normally be able to reach. Festival of Children is an amazing

advocate for all the nonprofit organizations that are involved; we

feel blessed to have them on our side.”

Pam Pimentel, executive director for Maternal Outreach Management

System said her charity has also benefited from Festival of

Children’s services. The Santa Ana-based organization educates

low-income mothers and helps them have healthy babies.

“It’s just been a great network of people that the festival

brought together,” Pimentel said. “We’ve gotten new clients, new

volunteers -- people in the community are more aware of us -- and

exposure to other organizations.”

Pimentel’s group honored Daniels earlier this year, naming her

businesswoman mother of the year.

“She was so gracious, she so truly believes in children and the

potential of our youth,” Pimentel said. “It was an honor to be able

to honor her.”

Daniels -- who has a constant juggling act between her position as

managing partner for her family’s company, C.J. Segerstrom & Sons,

and as executive director of the Festival of Children -- is also

working on a National Child Awareness Month resolution and is

planning to take the Festival of Children national.

“The best part is it that the model that we’ve created, this

Festival of Children, it works in such a way that we’re going to take

it national,” she said. “It’s really basically to get organizations

to start working together; there’s really strength in numbers.”

Daniels said her idea would not have blossomed into what it is

today were it not for all the helpful people along the way.

“It takes an idea, but it takes great people to help you with it,”

she said. “You’re only as good as the people you surround yourself

with, and I’ve got an incredible team that works for me.”

* LINDSAY SANDHAM is the news assistant. She can be reached at

(714) 966-4625 or lindsay.sandham@latimes.com.