The Crowd: A win for SPIN and its donors

There is an important underlying message intrinsic to the elegant gourmet charity dinner thrown on behalf of the hungry, the homeless, the invisible underclass. That message is in a sense comparable to having a bucket of ice-cold water thrown over one’s head.

Simply stated: Be grateful for the food on the table and the roof overhead; others struggle for the basic necessities in life.

Following a 26-year tradition in Orange County, the good people of Serving People In Need (SPIN) gathered Oct. 17 in the ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Huntington Beach Resort & Spa, some 300 strong, to make a stand fighting homelessness in this very backyard.

The concept of the SPIN dinner events has long been to invite donors to a signature dining experience as a reminder of their exceptional good fortune. It has been a catalyst to social action, inspiring giving and, in turn, changing lives.

One man in the dinner crowd hit home the value of the SPIN cause as he stepped onto the Hyatt stage to share his story. We shall just call him “Joe.”

“SPIN saved my life,” he said. “They saved my family and kept us together. We had lost our home and were living in our car. I came to SPIN and they helped us find an apartment, giving me the counseling I needed to turn things around.”

Less than two years later, Joe is running a profitable business. He told the crowd that one of his sons was graduating college and another was about to enter.

“I love SPIN,” he said, holding back tears. “I love all of you. You have no idea how much you mean to me and my family.” The crowd cheered and stood in Joe’s honor.

Returning to his table in the dining room, Joe raised his hand and offered a $1,000 donation as the financial appeal got underway. That is what you call success, the ultimate gesture of paying it forward.

The 2014 financial appeal for SPIN proved to be a formidable task. A generous donor and longtime supporting couple, requesting anonymity, pledged a $250,000 donation in the form of a match.

This would be a monumental task for an organization not used to asking friends for major six-figure sums. Organizers, including SPIN Executive Director Jean Wegener and Development Director Kim Frazier, were undaunted. “We can do this,” they said, wearing their finest rose-colored glasses.

And they did. With the amazing assistance of master of ceremonies John Wortmann, chairman of the board of governors at the Balboa Bay Club, and the super-dedicated and philanthropic Melanie Salata Fitch, wife of Edward Fitch, more than half of the funds needed to match the donor gift came in on appeal as folks in the crowd raised their hands and pledged. More funds were raised at silent and live auctions.

Over the subsequent several weeks, SPIN staff reached out to the community and raised the balance. Never before had this proud yet relatively small charitable group raised a half million dollars. SPIN donates 92% of every dollar raised to those in need, one of the very best ratios in the county.

“This money will help so many more people,” Frazier said. “They come through our door daily.”

The 26th annual SPIN dinner was created by celebrity guest chef Antonio Cagnolo of Antonello Ristorante, working closely with Hyatt executive chef Manfred Lassahn and staff. Every year, SPIN has invited a culinary legend in the O.C. to create the celebration supper.

Guests raved over the four-course Italian feast that began with a special bib lettuce salad infused with wonderful surprises, followed by a second course of pasta, an entrée of braised short ribs done to perfection, and finally a classic Italian dessert of tiramisu.

Major support for the evening — which was billed as a masquerade ball, encouraging guests to don masks and black tie — came from heroes-behind-the-mask Keith and Florence Smith, Julia and George Argyros (Argyros Family Foundation), Dick and Kim Crawford (Crawford Custom Homes), Frank and Peggy Listi (Golden State Foods), Elizabeth An (An Family Foundation), Don and Soogie Kang, and RJ Mayer and the Hyatt Hotel.

Also supporting SPIN were Wayne and Many Lou Shattuck, Joe and Heidi Heffington, Dick and Karen Nichol, David and Angela Lee, Edward Rimpau Jr., Joan Smart, Sandy and Harriet Sandhu, Carol and Tom Thompson, and SPIN board Chairman Al DeGrassi and his wife, Susan.

THE CROWD runs Fridays. B.W. Cook is editor of the Bay Window, the official publication of the Balboa Bay Club in Newport Beach.