One of the area’s biggest helpers is looking back at the community for an assist on Thursday, May 27. The Point Loma Association (PLA) is holding its annual dinner at the Kona Kai Resort on Shelter Island at 5:30 p.m. “We support our community and our businesses and there’s also beautification,” said dinner chair Karan Greenwald. “It’s a way to support the Point Loma Association to allow to keep providing the services that we provide to the community.” Last year’s PLA dinner raised $19,000 for the organization. Greenwald said the goal of this year’s dinner is to raise about $25,000. While the dinner usually has between 10 and 15 sponsored tables of 10 seats, Greenwald said this year’s event currently has an unprecedented 29 sponsored tables. “In this economy, I’m very pleased that so many people have stepped up to help the community. It starts at home,” Greenwald said. New with this installment of the PLA dinner is a musical act. The Chris Klich Jazz Quintet will pound out jazz tunes from the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s and those fleet of foot will have the chance to hit the dance floor. Raffle tickets will be sold at the dinner to win one of the 10 raffle trees. The trees will either have retail, restaurant or service gift certificates. “Each of them will have several hundred dollars’ worth of gift certificates to different things,” Greenwald said. There will also be 10 unique silent auction items up for bid. From a private wine dinner for 10 to lunch for two with District 2 City Councilman Kevin Faulconer to a children’s party for 10 at a local fire station, each of the items are unique. “They get to have a firefighter feast with the crew, a tour of the station, pictures inside the truck and a possibility of a ride in a truck,” Greenwald said of the fire station party. The dinner’s guest speaker will be Lynn Guidi, a local resident who will speak about the history of the Portuguese community in Point Loma. Greenwald considers it good timing with the historic 100-year Portuguese Festa coming up this week. “She’s going to talk about the history of the Portuguese in Point Loma, from when they first started coming to Point Loma to where they are now and what they do,” Greenwald said. PLA’s mission is to improve the quality of life in Point Loma through beautification, education, and charitable and civic action. The organization’s biggest project in the works is improving and maintaining the triangle at the entrance to Point Loma near Nimitz Boulevard, which they have named “Ed’s Triangle” after local resident Ed Streicher. “We are working with Councilman Faulconer’s office and the city,” Greenwald said, “and we will be planting and maintaining that triangle, which is basically the entrance to Point Loma.” PLA also puts on the annual Point Loma Summer Concert Series, which will run on five consecutive Fridays beginning July 16. Atomic Groove will get things started for the series. Tickets for the dinner are $75 individually or $1,000 for a table sponsorship and can be purchased through Saturday, May 22 online at www.plaweb.org or by calling (619) 224-0858. There are also a limited number of cocktail-hour tickets available for $50.