On
Wednesday, November 4, 2009, The Society of Memorial
Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center’s (MSKCC) Associates Committee hosted their annual
fall gala titled Fète d’ Hiver after the renowned French
winter festival. The event was held at the Four Seasons Restaurant in
New York and was sponsored by CHANEL Fine Jewelry with additional support
from Credit Suisse. The high-spirited and glamorous night was co-hosted
by starlets Diane Kruger and Blake
Lively. Set amidst the bold and elegant
décor by Bronson Van Wyck, 350 guests attended, and danced until
the late hours of the night to music by The MisShapes. The evening was
co-chaired by Veronica Beard, Amy Raiter Dwek, Dara
O'Hara, and Maria Villalba.
An impressive $394,000 was raised, fulfilling the final installment
of the pledge made by the Associates Committee to raise $1.4 million
over four years to endow the Clown CareSM program, a community outreach
program of the Big Apple Circus that has been a very important piece
of the Center’s Pediatric Department since 1986. Four times a week,
year-round, specially trained Clowns from the Big Apple Circus visit
MSKCC as “Doctors of Humorology” and do “Clown Rounds” in
both the inpatient and outpatient Pediatric units. Endowing this program
will guarantee its continuation in perpetuity, which brings so much delight
and happiness to all Pediatric patients during their time at MSKCC.
The
evening also featured an exciting live auction- a once-in-a-lifetime
CHANEL package for two that includes a private tour of Coco Chanel’s
apartment in Paris, two front-row tickets to CHANEL’s show during
Fashion Week Paris and his and hers J12 watches. Sotheby’s renowned
auctioneer Eliza Osborne and the Hollywood hostesses motivated the crowd
and one lucky winner walked away with the CHANEL dream package for $24,000.
Guests included: Diane Kruger, Blake Lively, Jason
Wu, Nina Garcia, Heather and Tom Leeds, Leslie Heaney, Veronica Swanson
Beard, Amy Raiter Dwek, Dara O’Hara, Maria Villalba, Eliza Bolen,
Jennifer Creel, Amy and Nevil Dwek, Lisa and Christopher
Errico, Gretchen and Dwight Fenton, Kimberly Kravis and Jon Schulhof,
Josh Gruss, Annabelle and Gregory Fowlkes, Nicholas
and Eugenie Goodman, Anne and Mario
Grauso, Phoebe Gubelmann, Alexia Hamm Ryan, Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos,
Calvert and George Moore, Fernanda Niven, Charlotte
Ronson, Alexandra and Louis Rose, Lauren Santo Domingo,
Ian and Mary Snow, Ferebee and Brook
Taube, Vanessa Traina, Bronson Van Wyck, Eleanor Ylvisaker, and many more.
