THE CROWD:

The power of friendship in the social world is the trump card needed to make a difference in the fundraising sphere.

In 2007, a few very active women in the Newport-Mesa community became passionately involved with a grass-roots organization for young girls known as Girls Inc.

These friends decided to ramp up the noise on the cause by forming a guild designed to raise money to support the Girls Inc. programs in Orange County. They got on the computer, they picked up the telephone, and what did they do?

Friends notified other friends that they were forming a support guild and they wanted their involvement. Within weeks there was an inaugural luncheon.

Then there were meetings and before long another event, then a breakfast confab underwritten by Tiffany & Co., South Coast Plaza at holiday time last year.

And most recently, a major fundraising event that introduced new Orange County Sheriff Sandra Hutchens to a crowd of women and a few men who comprise some of the power brokers on the social map of coastal Orange County.

Two of the gals who are among those power brokers are Eve Kornyei and Harriett Sandu who serve as co-presidents of the newly created Girls Inc. Guild.

Eve and Harriett, along with fellow founders and activists that include Sally Crockett, Liz Merage, Marta Bathal, Maralou Harrington, Marsha Anderson, Gena Reed, Gianna Kerrison, Pam Policano, Diana Martin, Ellyse Roberts and Carol Lee, formed the foundation of a powerful networking group that claims 108 members dedicated to promoting the Girls Inc. message.

They all converged upon the new Pelican Hill Resort filling the main ballroom for a recent luncheon that honored Hutchens, the 12th Orange County sheriff. Hutchens is the first female in the job, selected by the Orange County Board of Supervisors from a field of 48 candidates following a nationwide search. She will serve through January 2011, presumably prior to seeking election to the office.

The event also featured an address by a young woman named Helen Luna who became involved with Girls Inc. years ago after attending a meeting at Santa Ana High School.

Luna had the attention of her audience as she said, “I am amazed how much Girls Inc. has done for me and other girls around the country. I learned how to be more assertive and this training has helped me to gain confidence in myself.”

Luna attends Springfield College in Massachusetts, an opportunity she believes would not have been in her future if it had not been for the influence of Girls Inc. Luna won a $15,000 scholarship from the Girls Inc. national office as part of a combined award of more than $67,000 that included scholarship funding from Springfield College enabling her to study psychology and business.

The purpose of Girls Inc. is found in its motto, which is to teach young women to be “Strong, Smart and Bold.”

In the luncheon crowd supporting that message were Toni Berlinger, Laura Baratta, Catherine Emmi, Terri Goldfarb-Lee, Elaine Levin, Betty Mower Potalivo, Pat Neisser, Joan Riach, Judy Rosener, Sandi Simon, Sandy Stone, Linda White-Peters and Rachel Weissberg.

These friends contacting friends, contacting other friends have raised close to $200,000 in their first year of support for Girls Inc. It’s testament to the power of personal networking.

THE CROWD runs Thursdays and Saturdays.