Give it up for favorite cause

Laguna residents are being asked again and again to give money to

worthy causes.

The Senior Center project was at the top of the receiving list,

and the Laguna Relief and Resource Center was chiming in with its own

needs, when the Bluebird Canyon landslide on June 1 pulled the rug out from under many fundraising efforts.

Now the Woman’s Club is raising its hand in a quest to wring a few

dollars from a community that seems all but tapped out.

The landslide fundraising surely tops all in volume and in

creativity.

Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider, a marketing professional, came

up with a real brainstorm. She wants corporations around the country

to “adopt” a landslide family, but this fundraising effort has been

riddled with issues.

The enormity of the request -- $150,000 per family -- may be

creating some sticker shock. And the mayor’s original idea that folks

could pick their family of choice -- from a roster that would

describe each family’s individual plight -- hasn’t quite come to

fruition.

For one thing, the adopt-a-family idea proved to be a legal tangle

for the Relief and Resource Center, whose leaders were warned the

center could lose its nonprofit tax status if they allowed funds to

go directly to individuals. So the adopt-a-family program was

modified so that funds intended for tax-exempt giving would go to the

center for distribution to families as the center sees fit. Those who

didn’t care to receive a tax break -- and whoever might that be? --

could still give a gift to their “adopted” family.

And some of the afflicted families seemed reluctant to have their

woes publicized on the Internet, in sort of a New Millennium version

of that old 1950s show, “Queen for a Day,” in which entrants, usually

wringing a tear-stained hankie, competed for the most compelling sob

story -- and a raft of prizes -- before a live studio audience.

In the latest fundraising gimmick, local real estate agents are

being challenged to fork over a hefty percentage of their commissions

-- 50% -- to the landslide victims’ fund. The rationale here is that

the real estate industry has benefited tremendously from skyrocketing

property values and should reinvest in the land that lays the golden

eggs.

We’ll see if local realty agents decide to share their winnings

with folks whose property -- and property values --have plummeted.

In the meantime, there are plenty of ways to give till it hurts in

Laguna.

QUESTION

Are too many groups asking for donations in Laguna? Write us at

P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, CA, 92652, e-mail us at

[email protected] or fax us at 494-8979. Please give your

name and tell us your home address and phone number for verification

purposes only.