Living and Learning

The Professional Performing Arts School (PPAS) Concert Choir and Ted Turner at National Center for Learning Disabilities' annual benefit dinner, “Voices of Our Children, Voices of Our Future.”

Thursday, two weeks ago, at the Marriott Marquis, the National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) held its annual benefit dinner, “Voices of Our Children, Voices of Our Future,” and raised $1.8 million in support of the organization’s educational programs, information services and advocacy campaigns. NCLD’s annual benefit is the largest national fundraising event held in support of approximately 15 million children, adolescents and adults affected by learning disabilities.

This year’s honoree was Ted Turner, chairman of the United Nations Foundation with the Spirit of Achievement Award for his international commitment to children.

The Professional Performing Arts School (PPAS) Concert Choir.

Leadership for this year’s benefit included Fred Poses, chairman and chief executive officer of Trane, and chairman of the NCLD board of directors, and his wife Nancy Poses,who served as benefit committee chair. This year's’s dinner chairs werePeek and Jennie Garlington, Mr Turner’s son-in-law and daughter. Serving as this year’s honorary dinner chairs were Mark and Renee Rockefeller, Donald Rosenfeld, Jeff and Amanda Salzman,Remy and Lara Trafelet, NCLD board members Arthur and Jody Bellows, Anne Ford, John G. Gantz Jr. and Margot Levinson, John and Stephanie Inagram, Michael C Lasky and Peggi Einhorn, Richard and Audrey Zinman, and longtime NCLD supporters Ken deRegt and Mary Q. Pedersen.

Each year the benefit also awards the Anne Ford Scholarship, which gives $10,000 to an exemplary high school senior with a diagnosed learning disability who is planning to attend a four-year college. This award was established by NCLD’s board, in honor of the organization’s chairman emeritus, Anne Ford who has done so much to raise awareness and find solutions to what is a wide and often unrecognized problem affecting millions of us.

Peek Garlington III, John Ingram, Nancy Poses, and Frederic M. Poses

Alan and Wendy Pesky

Mark and Rayma Griffin

John Ingram and Peek Garlington III

James H. Wendorf, Nancy Poses, Ted Turner, Sally Ranney, Peek Garlington III, and Frederic M. Poses

Audrey MacDonald

Stevan Kukic, Carol Deshler, Margaret Booth, and Donald D. Deshler, Ph.D.

Bill Cunningham and Anne Ford

Students from The Churchill School and Center in New York, NY

Tina Sloan McPherson and Arthur Bellows

Diane and Todd Pearl

Paul Izlar and Mark Rockefeller

Christine Caimares and Raymond Robinson, PPAS Students

Burton Tremaine, Ted Turner, Stewart Hudson, and guests

Mary Q. Pedersen and Robert Minicucci

Frederic M. Poses and Jenifer Strauss Dannhauser

Lenora Somervell and Anne Ford

John Ingram, Ted Turner, Peek Garlington III, Raymond Robinson, and Christine Caimares

Jody Bellows

Maureen Brenner, Nancy Poses, and Jake Poses

Creative Time’s annual gala benefit this year was held at Guastavino’s restaurant under 59th Street Bridge for about 500 guests, patrons of the art world, dealers (many of whom now refer to themselves as “gallerists”), artists, friends and fans. For aficionados and the impassioned of the Art World, it was THE place to be on Wednesday night.

They were honoring Beth DeWoody, the Art Collector and supporter of a variety of cultural and philanthropic causes. And it was also her birthday.

The dinner scene at Guastavino’s.

The guest list read like a Who’s Who of American art as well as social New York. They raised more than $1 million for the cause, with a live auction item by Joseph Kosuth that went for $65,000. Perhaps the highlight of the evening was billed (whispered around the room) as “A Secret” -- Mrs. DeWoody and fashion executive Fred Anderson (of Douglas Hannant) reprising the famous Fred Astaire-Judy Garland baggy-pants/hobo dancing duet from Irving Berlin’s “Easter Parade,” “A Couple of Swells ... we stop at the best hotels, but we prefer the country far away from the city smells ...” Hey, the kid can sing and dance too. And he’s got a second career waiting on Broadway.

David Byrne and Cindy Sherman

Benjamin Dollar

Jeanne Greenberg and Cindy Sherman

Caio Fonseco

Frederick Anderson and Beth Rudin DeWoody

Jane Holzer

Beth Rudin DeWoody and Performers

Karen Duffy

Amy and John Phalen

Hunt Slonem

Samantha Brous, Susan Bram, and Melissa Meyers

Liz Swig and Joanne Leonhardt Cassullo

Sandy Hill

Will Cotton and Mary Boone

Dana Farouki

Kyle DeWoody

Raymond Learsy

Marie Douglas-David

Maureen Sullivan

Francesco Clemente, Aurel Schmidt, and Nicola Bassell

Richard Ziegelasch, Beth Rudin DeWoody, Melva Bucksbaum

Todd Eberle

Her Majesty Queen Noor

Marc Ecko

Peter Marino

Andrea Glimcher, Alex Katz, and Yvonne Force Villareal

Lisa Anastos and Bob Colacello

Somers Farkas and Patty Raynes

Thelma Golden and Jeffrey Deitsch

Tracy Hook and Lisa Anastos

Todd Slotkin and Leslie Cornfeld

Marc and Andrea Glimcher

Horacio Silva and Stefano Tonchi

Marcia Mishaan and Douglas Hannant

Marilyn Minter

Neil Thompson

Ophelia Rudin and William Rudin

The 2008 Kips Bay Decorator Show House opened yesterday, April 24th at The Manhattan House on 200 East 66th Street (between Second and Third Avenues). It will run until May 22nd. For more information, click here. [7]

Since 1915, Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club has focused on improving the lives of New York City’s children. This year, Kips Bay will reach 14,000 young people between the ages of 6 and 18 with essential afterschool enrichment programs aimed to help them recognize their potential for growth and success.