The Current
April 6, 2012

The Estancia and TeWinkle Schools Foundation held their 5th annual “Some Like It Hot” Gala on Sat., March 24, 2012 at the Mesa Verde Country Club. It was a sold-out event with 170 attendees! There were food stations, gaming tables, live and silent auctions, a martini bar with an ice luge, a DJ that kept the tunes coming, and dancing.

The highlight of the evening was the presentation to two distinguished alumni. Every year they’ve chosen two EHS alumni to honor for their accomplishments and willingness to give back to their communities. The recipients were Joe Drake, president and co-chief operating officer of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, and executive producer of the box-office hit “Hunger Games,” along with fellow Estancia graduate Jon Gray, CEO of Talon Automotive Group.

Gordon Bowley was the emcee and kept the audience laughing throughout the evening. A new addition was the “fund-a-need” live auction. Everyone in attendance was given a bidding paddle. The auction started at $1,000 and went down to $100, giving people the opportunity to raise their paddle at the amount they wanted to give. Joe Drake was kind enough to give $5,000 to get the evening started. The auction ended up raising more than $13,000, which will go to funding a computer lab at TeWinkle and starting a band program at Estancia. In all, they raised more than $37,000 (including the $13,000 “fund-a-need” auction).

The event was attended by community members, teachers, parents, administration and city council members, including Alan Mansoor (74th Assembly District) and Chris Nelson, who was in the first graduating EHS class in 1967, as well as generous sponsors.

Gala sponsors included: Costa Mesa Conference & Visitors Bureau, CJ Segerstrom & Sons, Jones & Mayer, Brian “Bubba” Kapko Foundation, Costa Mesa Police Officers Association, Hinson Financial Group, Jeff R. Matthews, OC Eye Design Optometry, Mesa Verde Plaza and Triangle Square.