Olive Crest Foundation

The event: An Enchanted Evening in a Child's Garden, the 25th anniversary Black & White Ball for Olive Crest Homes and Services for Abused Children. Saturday's black-tie gala took place at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim. Making their garden grow: About 900 guests filled the hotel's grand ballroom, which indeed looked like an enchanted child's garden thanks to painted murals of foliage, forests and a storybook cottage.

The event: An Enchanted Evening in a Child's Garden, the 25th anniversary Black & White Ball for Olive Crest Homes and Services for Abused Children. Saturday's black-tie gala took place at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim. Making their garden grow: About 900 guests filled the hotel's grand ballroom, which indeed looked like an enchanted child's garden thanks to painted murals of foliage, forests and a storybook cottage.

On a framed poster board in her bedroom at the Olive Crest home for abused children, 15-year-old Laura has a collage of photos filled with the smiling faces of friends, pet animals and familiar places. Conspicuously absent are any images of adults, particularly the father who abused her from an early age and the mother who kept silent about it. The courts took her away from her parents, and the Orange County social services system put her in a private group home with five other teen-age girls.

Proving that country-western attire doesn't have to mean blue jeans and plaid shirts, party-goers donned fancy black-tie duds for "Sequins, Spurs & Smiles," the eighth annual Olive Crest Black & White Ball. About 450 guests, many wearing cowboy hats and tuxedos, attended the gala at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim on Saturday. The $250-per-person benefit was expected to net $140,000 for the Olive Crest Abused Children's Foundation, which provides homes and services for abused children.

Anybody who thought Brooke Shields would sweep into Le Meridien Hotel in a cloud of greasepaint, baubles and chiffon got a surprise on Friday night. The actress/cover girl wore little makeup, her signet ring from Princeton and a simple black jumpsuit to the Black and White Ball in Newport Beach that benefited the Olive Crest Abused Children's Foundation. And she walked with a cane. "I just had foot surgery," she confided.

Proving that country-western attire doesn't have to mean blue jeans and plaid shirts, party-goers donned fancy black-tie duds for "Sequins, Spurs & Smiles," the eighth annual Olive Crest Black & White Ball. About 450 guests, many wearing cowboy hats and tuxedos, attended the gala at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim on Saturday. The $250-per-person benefit was expected to net $140,000 for the Olive Crest Abused Children's Foundation, which provides homes and services for abused children.

John Greiner, a 14-year resident of San Juan Capistrano, has been appointed to the city's Planning Commission. Greiner, 52, will fill the commission seat formerly held by Gil Jones, who was elected to the City Council last November. He is the Southern California regional human resources manager for Allstate Insurance. Greiner, a trustee of the Olive Crest Foundation, is chairman of the Orange County chapter of the March of Dimes. He is married and has three children.

Racing fans are familiar with Indianapolis, Monaco and Long Beach, but Friday night it was Anaheim--specifically the Disneyland Hotel--that was the site of a grand prix that attracted racing great Mario Andretti and other celebrity drivers. This wasn't an actual race, of course, but the seventh annual Black & White Ball to benefit Olive Crest Homes & Services for Abused Children. "Every Child Is a Winner" was the theme of the grand prix dinner-dance.

The event: An open house and rare peek inside the landmark "Villa Gucci," the $9.9-million mansion in Laguna Beach recently bought by Duane and Kelly Roberts. The couple hosted a party Sunday for supporters of the Olive Crest Children's Foundation. Laguna Riviera: The Robertses greeted guests in the marble entryway of their French Riviera-style villa. Party-goers fanned out about the property, admiring an ocean view and a gazebo built in the 1920s for Charlie Chaplin.

On a framed poster board in her bedroom at the Olive Crest home for abused children, 15-year-old Laura has a collage of photos filled with the smiling faces of friends, pet animals and familiar places. Conspicuously absent are any images of adults, particularly the father who abused her from an early age and the mother who kept silent about it. The courts took her away from her parents, and the Orange County social services system put her in a private group home with five other teen-age girls.

Anybody who thought Brooke Shields would sweep into Le Meridien Hotel in a cloud of greasepaint, baubles and chiffon got a surprise on Friday night. The actress/cover girl wore little makeup, her signet ring from Princeton and a simple black jumpsuit to the Black and White Ball in Newport Beach that benefited the Olive Crest Abused Children's Foundation. And she walked with a cane. "I just had foot surgery," she confided.