(The Winery’s Executive Chef and Partner Yvon Goetz of Newport Beach does his thing in the kitchen Sunday during a fundraiser for the Child Guidance Center and Marconi Foundation for Kids)

Have you ever had one of those moments with your kid where no matter what you say they won’t calm down? Or they won’t listen? Or they just keep challenging you?

I’ll bet you’ve thought, “I wish I had an expert feeding me lines, helping me to come up with the magic words.”

Well, such a thing is possible.

The Child Guidance Center of Santa Ana, which serves needy families throughout Orange County and is looking to expand its presence more in Costa Mesa, has seen an overall 49% improvement in the behavior of the children it cares for thanks to a relatively new form of counseling called Parent-Child Interaction Therapy.

Here’s how it works: A therapist watching from behind a one-way mirror coaches a parent with a wireless earphone as they interact with their child. Think Cyrano de Bergerac as a psychiatrist.

Lori Pack, the clinical program director for the Child Guidance Center, excitedly told me about the therapy at a fundraiser Sunday for the center and the Marconi Foundation that was held at The Winery Restaurant at The District in Tustin. She’s jazzed about it because it’s getting results.

But here’s the problem. It’s expensive to train the therapists and the center is struggling with the dilemma of most nonprofits these days — more demand and less funding. The center relies on state funding, so Child Guidance Center officials anxiously wait the next state budget. Now the center has to turn to alternative, private funding at a time when the economy is pure entropy.

That’s where the Winery and the Marconi Foundation factor in. The foundation, which helps raise money for various children’s charities, was looking to help out the center and normally would have had the fundraiser at the Marconi Automotive Museum in Tustin. The auto museum is popular with men who are a bit more eager than women to throw their arm in the air at an auction. But earlier this year during one of those fundraisers the stock market was tanking and Priscilla “Bo” Marconi had an epiphany of sorts. The foundation had to branch out and be more creative with its fundraisers. But where else could she organize a fundraiser? She noticed after a few visits to the Winery that so many of her friends already dined there so why not have a wine tasting there? Winery executives were happy to oblige and several area wine makers were invited to attend. On Sunday, organizers auctioned off some dinner packages (one of which included a Steve Finley A2000 Wilson glove — very cool, I thought) and patrons paid $125 for an afternoon of wine tasting. Everyone wins, especially the kids.

Speaking of which, I think it’s a scandal that nonprofits like the Child Guidance Center should ever have to worry about funding. If we’re not making sure agencies like this are funded then what the heck are we guaranteeing spending for? It seems to me that the powerful lobbyists in Sacramento gobble up too much of the pie and worthwhile agencies that help the neediest among us scramble for the crumbs. State lawmakers have to stop taking the easy way out and balancing the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable. There’s a lot of blame to go around for the state’s budget mess, and as I’ve said before I don’t think it’s a partisan issue. Our lawmakers and governor have to put up more of a fight against the entrenched powers in Sacramento. The welfare of our children matter a lot more than whether some powerful union hangs on to all of its already generous benefits.

And God bless private companies like The Winery that lend a helping hand. The restaurant’s staff donated its time and talents Sunday for two nonprofits that will make a palpable difference in the lives of many of the area’s children. Lula Halfacre, the chief executive of Traditional Jewelers in Fashion Island who has served on the Marconi Foundation board for years and is well-known for her philanthropy, put it best when we discussed how the economy has affected local charities.

“We’re all just working a little harder,” she said. “But it’s Orange County. We’ll pull together and get through this.”

We’d better. As Bo Marconi told me, if some agencies were raising $1 million last year, they’re  pulling in more like $400,000 to $600,000 this year. That’s a lot of ground to cover, but I have faith.

Update: Good news! The event raised $25,000 for the charities.

(Loren and Richard Moriarty of Newport Beach Vineyards and Winery show off their OC Red, 2003 vintage, at Sunday’s wine-tasting fundraiser)

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