Sgt. Pepperoni’s Pizza is raising money in September that will go toward adding new toy sets to Children’s Hospital of Orange County LEGO corner.
During Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, all proceeds from the Pizza of the Month, Baked Potato Pie, and all dessert sales at Sgt. Pepperoni’s three Orange County locations will go to the hospital’s LEGO Corner.
Sgt. Pepperoni’s also will host a LEGO Fest Party at its Newport Beach location on Sept. 18. All sales proceeds that day will be donated to CHOC.
“At Sgt. Pepperoni’s, we believe in the power of coming together to make a positive impact,” said Jeff Roberts, co-owner of Sgt. Pepperoni’s Pizza Store.
Restaurants are located at 2300 S.E. Bristol St. F (Newport Beach), Aliso Viejo at 26601 Aliso Creek Road, Suite D, and Irvine at 4533 Campus Drive.
For more on the company, go to SgtPepps.com.
OC schools, nonprofit awarded $1.9M in farm grants
California’s Farm to School Incubator Grant Program last week awarded $1,881,415 to several food-based projects in Orange County.
The 2023-24 program, managed by the California Department of Food and Agriculture Office of Farm to Fork, received almost double the number of proposals (499 applications and $129 million in funding requests) from the previous grant cycle.
The grants provide opportunities to expand projects for K-12 school districts, food providers, early care and education centers, agricultural producers and food hubs.
Here’s a look at who’s getting what:
Anaheim Union High School District was awarded $620,880 to provide California-grown produce to the students of AUHSD and Anaheim Elementary School District.
Santa Ana Unified School District was awarded $598,485 to incorporate culinary education, school gardening, field trips and lesson plans at district schools.
The Edible Schoolyard Project, part of the Alice Waters Institute, is getting $341,823 to provide Farm to School training at schools in Orange, Los Angeles and Fresno county schools. AWI will help teach students where food comes from and the benefits of eating healthy, locally grown food.
The nonprofit Community Action Partnership of Orange County was awarded $320,227, which it will use to increase food production at the 8-acre Giving Farm at Westminster High. The farm produces and gives food to the OC Food Bank.
Groundswell Summit is Sept. 20
Orange Coast Community College in Costa Mesa is hosting a three-session event Friday, Sept. 20 called Groundswell Summit: Shaping Tomorrow Together.
The summit will explore “what it takes to create belonging at work, in education and in our communities.”
Sessions between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. include healing conflict, challenging bias and hate and seeing conflict as a bridge rather than barrier. There will be time to network afterward.
Organizers say ticket pricing is based on an honor system, which means participants can pay “what you can.” The listed ticket price ranges from $40 to $200.
For more information, go to tinyurl.com/335ccwfy
Dragon Kim finalists announced
The nonprofit Dragon Kim Foundation recently announced its four fellowship finalists from California for the 2024 Dragon Challenge competition.
The challenge will be held Saturday, Sept. 14 at the Margaret A. Webb Theatre on the campus of the Orange County School of the Arts in Santa Ana. The event begins at 5 p.m. with the competition beginning at 7 p.m.
The fellowship awards community service grants of up to $5,000 to teams that create and manage a service project for theircommunity. The winners of the Dragon Challenge get another $5,000 to continue their project.
The finalists were chosen from 46 fellowship projects run by high school students this summer in California. They are:
Heart-to-Art: Irvine students Ashima Sharma and Vedant Dayal, both 16 and attending OCSA, created a two-week summer camp in partnership with CHOC’s After Cancer Treatment Survivorship Program. Certain cancer patients and survivors learned about integrated art therapy in six art forms.
GalaxSea Explorers: A science-focused project developed by Brandon Chang, 16, of West Ranch High School in Stevenson Ranch. The project offered space exploration opportunities and educational awareness about Earth’s problems and promoted aerospace engineering and astronomy fields.
Mālama: A performance-based project created by three students that combined Hawaiian hula with concern for elderly loneliness and depression by hosting Polynesian arts performances in care facilities. The students spanned three cities: Ava Villacorta, 14, of Fairmont Preparatory Academy (Tustin), Caitlyn Morales, 15, of OCSA (Santa Ana), and Sofia Isabella Villacorta, 16, of Walnut High School (Walnut).
My Mom’s Wishlist: This project created by Valley High School students Abraham Lopez, 16, Gerardo Caravez,17, and Lorenzo Ibarra, 17, created a resource center for Latina single mothers in Santa Ana, offering education, assistance and support through governmental education programs, food supply, and therapy.
For more information and to apply for the 2025 Dragon Fellowship, go to dragonkimfoundation.org or call 949-229-1396. For ticket reservations to the challenge, go to tinyurl.com/5x6dj978.
Appointments
Irvine resident Xiaolan “Lan” Zhou has been appointed to the Orange County Transportation Authority Board of Directors. She has been a District 12 director at the California Department of Transportation since 2024, where she’s held several roles since 2001. The board position does not require Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Zhou is a registered without party preference.
Status Update is compiled and written by Business Editor Samantha Gowen. Submit items and high-resolution photos to [email protected]. Allow at least one week for publication. Items are edited for length and clarity.
