Croatian Group Hosts First Relief Event
RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA — The newly formed Croatian-American Society of Orange County attracted about 250 people to the organization’s first effort Saturday night to generate support for a humanitarian aid relief fund for their war-torn homeland of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia.
Supporters held a fund-raising dinner at a kitchen equipment firm.
The county’s only Croatian-American organization, the society was formed in February to raise money, food and medical supplies.
“In this time of the stress (in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia), we feel we must help with aid and medicine,” said Dr. Berigoj Stambuk, the event’s organizer and a hematologist in San Clemente who came to this country in 1950.
Stambuk said the organization was founded two months ago in his living room and is designed to provide a way for the estimated 10,000 Croatians living in the county to send aid.
Stambuk said the group will also strive to keep alive Croatian traditions and culture within the population relocated to Southern California.
The society will join those in Los Angeles and San Pedro as the only Croatian organizations in Southern California. Relief donations can be made by calling (714) 564-1400.
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