Grand Prix Foundation gala kicks off LBCC partnership
Around 200 people gathered on Thursday, May 11, for the kickoff announcement of the Grand Prix Foundation of Long Beach with the LBCC Foundation to benefit the automotive technology and career technical education at City College.
It was a festive affair at Rick Lorenzen's Lions Automobilia Museum. After the awe-struck guests toured the beautifully restored automobiles, they dined with delicious comestibles provided by Primal Alchemy, Naples Rib Company and King Taco (a 28-year sponsor).
“The foundation is teaming with LBCC to offer a new CTE (career technology education) degree in auto mechanics,” said Grand Prix Foundation President Rick DuRee. “The background story is: because of the times, young men are no longer interested in auto mechanics and there is a shortage of them. This will be the first opportunity for a young man to get a college degree while assisting society in their need. The Grand Prix Foundation feels it is a cause related to the race. So, instead of assisting many varied community charitable organizations, this made sense to focus on a need more closely related to cars and racing.”
Eight Robert E. Leslie scholarships in the amount of $1,500 were presented to deserving candidates from the applications submitted from LBUSD high schools. Beginning this year, proceeds from Grand Prix of Long Beach fundraising activities will benefit students at LBCC Automotive Technology by way of scholarships, tools and internships.
Seen at the scene: Tami and Rick Lorenzen, Rick and Joey DuRee, LBCC Foundation CEO Paul Kaminski, Grand Prix Association of Long Beach President and CEO Jim Michaelian, LBCC Superintendent-President Mike Munoz, Derek Brown, Harry and Maria Saltzgaver, Dan and Desiree Gooch, DeDe Rossi, Randy and Nancy Gordon, Pam and Bob Funari, Career Education Dean Gene Carbonaro, Applied Technology interim Dean Anthony Pagán.
Breakfast BLAST Takes Off Again
Beautiful views overlooking the Alamitos Bay from the Long Beach Yacht Club was the site of the 15th Annual Breakfast BLAST (Better Learning for All Students Today) fundraising event.
The Thursday, May 11, event featured a morning of fun, fellowship and networking that generated more than $30,000 to benefit nearly 700 students in the Long Beach United School District through Long Beach BLAST's two flagship programs, the Academic Mentoring Program and Bridge to Success.
This is the first time that BLAST supporters and staff have had the opportunity to gather in person for the breakfast since the coronavirus pandemic began and it was a morning of students sharing their stories and surprise honorees.
Mark Taylor served as the master of ceremonies for the event. Presenting event sponsors included Long Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau, and Mike and Arline Walter. CSULB President Jane Conoley was the guest speaker; she was accompanied by BLAST program speakers who shared their stories of grit and eagerness to succeed after becoming part of the program.
During the event, Kaiser Permanente was honored as Funder of the Year. The Earl B. and Loraine H. Miller Foundation was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award, accepted by Darick Simpson on behalf of the foundation (one of the first foundations to have supported BLAST during its inception in 2000). LBUSD's own Lionel Gonzalez was honored for Partner of the Year for his dedication and partnership with the Male & Female Leadership Academies and Long Beach BLAST.
Other event sponsors included: The Doty Family; Farmers & Merchant Bank; Halbert Hargrove Global Advisors; John Fielder and Donita Van Horik; Larry and Kathy Choate; LBCC and the LBCC Foundation; CSULB; Supervisor Janice Hahn, Windes; Keesal, Young and Logan; LBUSD; Marquita Grenot-Scheyer and Kraig Scheyer; MF Construction & Design Inc.'s; Mike Maman and Fay Shin; Port of Long Beach.
Since 2000, Long Beach BLAST's mission has been to improve academic and personal success for youth through collaboration and innovative approaches to mentoring and learning. Long Beach BLAST has worked to assist more than 18,000 Long Beach youth who are at-risk of falling behind in school, providing life-skills programming that gets them back on track for graduation and ready to achieve beyond high school in a career or college.
For more information, call 562-437-7766, or visit lbblast.org.
Seen at the scene: Darick Simpson, Megan Kerr, Mark Taylor, Jane Close Conoley, Herlinda Chico, Phil Bond, Karissa Selvester, Marquita GrenotScheyer, Lionel Gonzalez, Lee Douglas, Mike Walter, Maria Pangelinan, Claudia Sosa — Valderrama, Chris Lund, Jon Meyer, Cecilia Santos- Camerino, Scott Apel, David Koch, John McGinnis, and Shireen Pavri.
News of social events with charitable purposes may be sent to Shirley Wild at spwild@verizon. net or by fax to 562-5949468. Please include a contact phone number. Send high-resolution jpeg photos, by attachment, to spwild@verizon.net and include group name and identification of individuals from left. Call Shirley at 562-594-9468 for more information.