Our 30th Anniversary Fundraiser was a Memorable Evening!

The night of December 2nd was such a magical evening for CLF: Supporters, friends and families came from around the country to celebrate our Founder Maria D’Angelo’s legacy of service after thirty years, as well as our 30th Anniversary as an organization! Our sincerest gratitude and thanks to our AMAZING sponsors of the night: Barry Brooker & #GrindstoneEntertainment, @arcticcoldcaps, the Weinstein Family, the Michaels Family, @ebear815 and family, the Alpert Family, @michaelchiklis and @michellechiklis, Nancy Horwitz, and our FAB Dinner & Auction Committee: Barry Brooker, Michelle Chiklis, Cathy Cygan, Margaret Hauptman, Leslie Martinez, Marla Michaels, Ellen Poyer, Suzanne Smith, Cha-Cha Weinstein and Carrie Vose. During the cocktail hour, our guests were serenaded by the sweet sounds of jazz sax player #LarryOWilliams. Our amazing host @neilgiraldoofficial kicked off the evening in grand style, with dear friend David Silverstein from the @agapespiritualcenter and #ActionAgape doing a beautiful and moving invocation. Neil’s beautiful wife #PatBenatar was in the audience, along with #MichaelChiklis (starring in the incredible new #TheSeniorFilm.)  We were also so honored to have @cityofmalibu Councilmember paul_grisanti present TWO beautiful certificates of the city to Maria-one from the City of Malibu, and one from the City of Los Angeles and @mayorofla (making that Maria’s third mayoral commendation!) Rodney, one of the very first youth in our Vita Network, got up and read the most moving poem and speech about how Maria had affected his life (Rodney and his beautiful wife Kori now have three beautiful girls of their own-one on their way to Harvard to study medicine!) CLF was also blown away to have a surprise visit for Maria from Karen and Chanel Blish, the third family to be moved into a new home through our (then-named) Adopt-A-Family Program in 1997!  The crowd at the lovely @tiatosm restaurant in Santa Monica was moved to tears as they both recounted how crucial and life-changingly important that move was to their family….

Ellen Poyer and her wonderful brother Mark Weinstein  then went up to give a scholarship to Anais Jimenez, in loving honor of their father David Weinstein. Anais has been a part of the CLF’s Care through College Program since she was seven years old (she is now a high school senior!) Her first choice of college is Yale, and we could not be more proud of her!  @cathy_cygan and her son @jackunderscorecygan then proceeded to speak about their late husband and father John Cygan, who was a huge supporter of CLF, and gave out a second memorial scholarship to Nasir Grissom. Nasir and his mother have also been a part of CLF’s multiple programs for well over a decade, and were also moved into a new home through our Vita Network Program. Nasir just graduated from Williams College, and this scholarship will act as a stipend for his future endeavors. (We cannot WAIT to see what he does next!) Maria’s granddaughter Faith then got up, and gave a moving, impromptu speech about what her “Nonna” meant to her, and further had the entire house in tears. Maria finally took the stage with her children Francesca (who will be taking over next year) and Sean to tell the entire room how much everyone has meant to the CLF over the years…

The evening was closed by some truly AWESOME entertainment: The truly terrific Parker Theory performed for us (comprised of singer @jessejpruett and musician Joseph Pfeiffer) followed by a bringing-down-the-house singer @kris.leible! The crowd even got to hear a Dylan tune and more from up-and-comer Max from @muxcorp! We truly cannot thank Tyler and the great staff from #TiatoRestaurant enough for making this evening so truly special for us, and, once again, to our amazing sponsors, supporters, volunteers and dear FRIENDS (who are truly family now!!!)... We hope we say it enough, but we CANNOT say it enough: We simply could NOT do this work without the love, support, guidance and more love from all of YOU! (@suzanne_e_smith-you are our angel on earth, and you KNOW it!) Thank you also to our amazing volunteer and dear friend @erinfinley, who, along with Suzanne Smith,  saved the day after our volunteer crew was out sick!)  Dearest Cathy, Cha-Cha, Ellen, Marla, Leslie, Carrie-thank you also for all the truly beautiful Silent Auction additions and help ALL throughout the event planning process, and Leslie-for your amazing calligraphy and help-you are all true GODSENDS!!! Thank you also to our collective families-who flew in from Idaho, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Florida to be with us, and to celebrate Maria that night! (Happy Birthday, Elena-and dear Faith next week!!)

Dec 2nd was a magical evening for CLF! (continued…) Sound outs and a BILLION thank yous, once again, to:  Ellie & Len Curreri, Ciro & Debbie D’Angelo, Cristina Curreri & Paul Dardinski, Emily Batogowski, Marc & Jen Curreri and family, Alex & Ava D’Angelo, Mark (“Kramer”) Lederkramer, Bob & Nancy Salka, Michael Johnson, Pam & Joe Wirht, John Whelpley, Bob Blakemore, David & Gail Silverstein, Alan & George Bohannon, Monica Meza & Alex Guillern, Janine McUen, Dea Shandera and Brent, Don Zinman & Carrie Vose, Nick Kreider, Sol Emami, Pat McCaffery, A Martinez & Family, Flo Borden, Deborah Goldstein, Margaret Hauptman, Kathleen & Christopher Semergieff, Nicole White, Dylan and Faith McCaffery, Ellen Francisco, Alice Runge, Marleen Leventhal, @samanthabravophotos, Trena Pitchford, Marleen Leventhal, Lesli & Stephen, Colton Webb, Nasir Grissom, Devon Meyers, Barry Brooker & Family, Rodney & Kori Early & family, @mickkubiak & Rick Lefitz,  a VERY special, anonymous angel (and one in heaven) and the beautiful Jimenez family-we adore all of you so very much…. Thank you so much once again to Barry Brooker of Grindstone Entertainment at Lionsgate Films for being a signature sponsor and organizing the entertainment for the evening, and Jesse Pruett for being such a huge help as well!) Karen and Chanel Blish-you once again blew us away by flying in to surprise Maria…Just please know, the love NEVER stops, we promise you that…(Did we mention we LOVE you?) #weloveyou #thankyou #communitycomingtogether #clfturns30 #thechildrenslifesavingfoundation #nonprofitsofinstagram #losangelesnonprofits

The night of December 2nd was such a magical evening for CLF: Supporters, friends and families came from around the country to celebrate our Founder Maria D’Angelo’s legacy of service after thirty years, as well as our 30th Anniversary as an organization! Our sincerest gratitude and thanks to our AMAZING sponsors of the night: Barry Brooker & #GrindstoneEntertainment, @arcticcoldcaps, the Weinstein Family, the Michaels Family, @ebear815 and family, the Alpert Family, @michaelchiklis and @michellechiklis, Nancy Horwitz, and our FAB Dinner & Auction Committee: Barry Brooker, Michelle Chiklis, Cathy Cygan, Margaret Hauptman, Leslie Martinez, Marla Michaels, Ellen Poyer, Suzanne Smith, Cha-Cha Weinstein and Carrie Vose. During the cocktail hour, our guests were serenaded by the sweet sounds of jazz sax player #LarryOWilliams. Our amazing host @neilgiraldoofficial kicked off the evening in grand style, with dear friend David Silverstein from the @agapespiritualcenter and #ActionAgape doing a beautiful and moving invocation. Neil’s beautiful wife #PatBenatar was in the audience, along with #MichaelChiklis (starring in the incredible new #TheSeniorFilm.)  We were also so honored to have @cityofmalibu Councilmember paul_grisanti present TWO beautiful certificates of the city to Maria-one from the City of Malibu, and one from the City of Los Angeles and @mayorofla. Rodney, one of the very first youth in our Vita Network, got up and read the most moving poem and speech about how Maria had affected his life (Rodney and his beautiful wife Kori now have three beautiful girls of their own-one on their way to Harvard to study medicine!) CLF was also blown away to have a surprise visit for Maria from Karen and Chanel Blish, the third family to be moved into a new home through our (then-named) Adopt-A-Family Program in 1997! The crowd at the lovely @tiatosm restaurant in Santa Monica was moved to tears as they both recounted how crucial and life-changingly important that move was to their family.  

Ellen Poyer and her wonderful brother Mark Weinstein  then went up to give a scholarship to Anais Jimenez, in loving honor of their father David Weinstein. Anais has been a part of the CLF’s Care through College Program since she was seven years old (she is now a high school senior!) Her first choice of college is Yale, and we could not be more proud of her!  @cathy_cygan and her son @jackunderscorecygan then proceeded to speak about their late husband and father John Cygan, who was a huge supporter of CLF, and gave out a second memorial scholarship to Nasir Grissom. Nasir and his mother have also been a part of CLF’s multiple programs for well over a decade, and were also moved into a new home through our Vita Network Program. Nasir just graduated from Williams College, and this scholarship will act as a stipend for his future endeavors. (We cannot WAIT to see what he does next!) Maria’s granddaughter Faith then got up, and gave a moving, impromptu speech about what her “Nonna” meant to her, and further had the entire house in tears. Maria finally took the stage with her children Francesca (who will be taking over next year) and Sean to tell the entire room how much everyone has meant to the CLF over the years…The evening was closed by some truly AWESOME entertainment: The truly terrific Parker Theory performed for us (comprised of singer @jessejpruett and musician Joseph Pfeiffer) followed by a bringing-down-the-house singer @kris.leible! The crowd even got to hear a Dylan tune and more from up-and-comer Max from @muxcorp! We truly cannot thank Tyler and the great staff from #TiatoRestaurant enough for making this evening so truly special for us, and, once again, to our amazing sponsors, supporters, volunteers and dear FRIENDS (who are truly family now!!!)... We hope we say it enough, but we CANNOT say it enough: We simply could NOT do this work without the love, support, guidance and more love from all of YOU! (@suzanne_e_smith-you are our angel on earth, and you KNOW it!) Thank you also to our amazing volunteer and dear friend @erinfinley, who, along with Suzanne Smith,  saved the day after our volunteer crew was out sick!)  Dearest Cathy, Cha-Cha, Ellen, Marla, Leslie, Carrie-thank you also for all the truly beautiful Silent Auction additions and help ALL throughout the event planning process, and Leslie-for your amazing calligraphy and help-you are all true GODSENDS!!! Thank you also to our collective families-who flew in from Idaho, New York, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Florida to be with us, and to celebrate Maria that night! (Happy Birthday, Elena-and dear Faith next week!!) Just please know, the love NEVER stops, we promise you that…#weloveyou #thankyou #communitycomingtogether #clfturns30 #thechildrenslifesavingfoundation #nonprofitsofinstagram #losangelesnonprofits

*Great Photos by: Devon Meyers Photography & Samantha Bravo Photography (Samatha is at the Malibu Times.)