NEWS & PRESS

Kelly Gray, Keri Dugan, and Tiffany Pepys Hoey
Sharing a Commitment to Orangewood’s Children

Newport Beach [714]
October 2, 2003
Gary Amo

Although Kelly Gray, Keri Dugan, and Tiffany Pepys Hoey share a seat on the Orangewood Pals board of directors that doesn’t dilute their commitment to the organization. Really, Orangewood Pals—and the children it supports - get three for the price of one, not a bad deal. As Keri Dugan says, “Pals is basically a fulltime job.” It’s a job and a commitment none of the mind.

Orangewood Pals is an auxiliary of the Orangewood Children’s Foundation, a private, non-profit organization established in 1981 to raise money to build a replacement emergency shelter for Orange County’s abused, neglected and abandoned children. The result was the Orangewood Children’s Home, which was dedicated in 1985.

After Completion of an expansion to the hoe in 1992, the foundation turned its attention to serving the on-going needs of these children with programs designed to break the generational cycle of abuse and to assist former foster children leaving the dependency system.

The charter of Orangewood Pals is to support the broader Orangewood Children’s Foundation in raising awareness and resources for the Orangewood Children’s Home and other programs funded by the foundation.

Kelly Gray, CEO and creative director for St. John , became involved when Stephanie Gehl, a member of the board, invited her and her mother, Marie Gray to tour the Orangewood facilities.

“We were so impressed and we wanted to help,” gray says. The result was Kelly Gray’s commitment to Orangewood Pals and her co-chairmanship, along with Dugan and Hoey, of Jungle Boogie, this year’s major fund-raiser for Orangewood Pals.

When Dugan, who used to own the Basket Case in Newport Beach, sold her business, she was looking for something to do. As a mother of three, she wanted something that was children-related.

“Stephanie Gehl, a co-founder of Orangewood Pals, is the on who got me involved,” Dugan says. “I’ve been working on Pals events for several years and chairing the last three years. We always have an annual event like Jungle Boogie, but we also hold four mixers throughout the year at a store opening or a restaurant. They’re casual - on a weeknight, with cocktails, a good time.”

Hoey is the second generation of her family to work with Orangewood. Her mother is on the board of Orangewood Children’s foundation.

“My mom got involved be cause my brother was adopted from Orangewood,” Hoey says. “I’ve been with then close to a year now as co-event chair with Kelly and Keri, but Jungle Boogie is the first major event I’ve worked on.”

Hoey, who is director of merchandising and marketing and a senior designer for St. John, is enthusiastic when she talks about Jungle Boogie, which will be held at Seven Degrees in Laguna Beach on October 11.

“We expect the event to be completely sold out with 400 people in attendance and it’s completely underwritten,” she says. “We have opportunity drawings in lieu of the usual auctions and we were seeking different things for the drawing. We got more that we expected.

Dugan says, “Our annual event is typically on t very typical.”

That’s certainly the case with Jungle Boogie.

Instead of a sit-down dinner, guest will enjoy hibiscus martinis and visit stations of safari-style appetizers and desserts. They can explore the Paradise Patio, get an airbrush tattoo, and have their fortunes read by jungle fortune tellers, play with a chimpanzee, or check out the shills of Tarzan.

Among the items ( all valued at $1,000 plus) at that fabulous opportunity drawing are front and center tickets for the Lakers (with a limousine), the Ultimate St. John Marting collection Basket (St. John is also a major sponsor on the event), suites at the Pond and Staples Center, and a week’s stay in Puerto Vallarta.

All of the funds raised at Jungle Boogie will go to the Orangewood Pals pro grams that benefit the children of Orangewood, “ Pals is effective, “Dugan says. “The money goes to the children and their programs, no other baloney.”

And what’s next for Gray, Dugan, and Hoey?

“We’ll take a couple of months breather,” Dugan says, “and then start over with a new date and theme, something new and fresh.”

And you can bet next year’s event won’t be typical either, just like these three dedicated and atypical women who will help out on it for the children of Orangewood.
Visit www.orangewoodpals.org