R S V P / ORANGE COUNTY : A Tangy Year-Ender for Red Cross’ Orange Pulp

Orange Pulp president Sam Perricone insists that the name of the young professionals’ auxiliary of the Orange County chapter of the American Red Cross was dreamed up before one frame of the hit film “Pulp Fiction” was ever in the can.

“One day, it just hit me,” said Perricone, as he surveyed the nearly 200 party-goers at the group’s second annual New Year’s Eve ball at the Hyatt Regency Alicante hotel in Garden Grove on Sunday.

Perricone, who coincidentally is a citrus juice supplier, said, “About five years ago, we were asked by some people, including my uncle, who’s on the [Red Cross] board of directors, if we could put a group together” for the 21-to-35 crowd.

“There are about 1,500 kids volunteering for the Red Cross in the county. That’s one of the biggest Youth Services chapters in the United States. And there are still a lot of older people who volunteer. But there was nothing in between.”

That’s where Orange Pulp comes in, he said.

Pulp Fact

The group appeals to professionals in their 20s and 30s who have an interest in the Red Cross’ Youth Services programs. The idea, Perricone said, is for the group’s volunteers to train junior high and high school students to take over volunteer respon-

sibilities with the Red Cross as well as to serve as mentors for those future leaders.

The $50-a-ticket Roaring ‘20s costume ball raised about $5,000 for the Youth Services programs, which sponsors the Red Cross’ summer Youth Leadership Development Camp.

The camp in the San Bernardino mountains is “in desperate need of funds,” Perricone said. “We need about $13,000 to keep it open.”

Orange Pulp in December hosts an annual Youth Services Holiday Project fund-raiser: a breakfast and a toy drive for needy families.

“The Red Cross is an organization with such tradition that it’s easy to get involved in it,” said Orange Pulp secretary John Sorenson, who is optimistic that the group’s membership will grow beyond its current 200.

“It’s great to [work with] young kids who are so positive and who get so much satisfaction doing things for other people,” he said. “In Youth Services, [we teach them] business skills, cultural interaction, disaster relief services. Some of them were the first people on the scene during the Laguna Beach fires.”

Champagne Memories

In a room filled with black and white balloons, party-goers dined on sirloin and chicken with glazed vegetables at tables covered with black and white linen. They danced in an adjoining room to music by the Green Natives, a band that played, said one band member, “everything from Sinatra to Rage Against the Machine.”

Guests included Red Cross Orange County chapter board member Bob McClain and his wife, Lois; George Chitty, the CEO of the Orange County chapter; Orange Pulp board member Chris Freundt; and Leadership Development Camp director Trez Brown and her husband, James. Each took home a gift bag filled with a small bottle of champagne and--for New Year’s Day mimosas, perhaps--two navel oranges.