Party Pictures 10/4/05 - Change For Kids 2005 "NYC's Hippest Party"; Night of Olana 2005; Jacob & Co. Noche Latina launch and private shopping event to benefit Katrina Relief Fund and the Children's Aid Society

Change For Kids 2005 "NYC's Hippest Party" to benefit New York City's most underfunded public schools

Alan Mason, Karen Hambright, Donna Tait, and Ted Madara

Bill Bonde, Bill Kourakos, and Lisa Kourakos

Two weeks ago Change For Kids honored award-winning director and actor Stanley Tucci with the CFK Lifetime achievement award at their annual fundraiser. This award recognizes Tucci’s ongoing dedication to improving public education in New York City and his generous and long-time support of Change for Kids.

Campbell Brown and Stanley Tucci

The evening raised over $250,000 to fund the arts and educational programs established by CFK in some of New York City’s most under-funded public elementary schools. 100% of the net proceeds will directly benefit CFK’s programs.

The event took place at Crobar and was hosted by NBC’s Campbell Brown. Premiering on the 20th will be the 2005 CFK Collaborative Documentary directed by Avram Ludwig. The talent-filled evening featured performances by the glamorous and evocative musician Sasha Lazard; recent Today Show guests Nuttin But Stringz; and, NYC's greatest spectacle band, The Niagaras. The evening was catered by Andy King Events, and CFK was generously supported by their sponsors, including Dewar’s, Two-Tone Farms, Tana Seybert, Sotheby’s, Simon Pearce, Gotham Magazine and many others who made the event possible.

Change for Kids is dedicated to improving children’s education in New York City’s most under-funded public elementary schools. Its programs include trust funds to purchase school supplies, dance and violin, field trips to New York’s cultural and educational institutions, in-school performances and a literacy program supplementing our schools’ reading and writing curriculum. CFK’s Directors Circle funds 100% of CFK’s operating expenses thereby allowing all of the net proceeds of the event to directly fund children’s programs.

Change For Kids programs benefit over 1,000 children annually in four NYC public elementary schools: P.S. 243 in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn; C.E.S. 73 in the South Bronx; P.S. 160 in Jamaica, Queens; and P.S. 154 in West Harlem.

Campbell Brown, Ted Madara, and Patty Madara

Demostenes Suarez, Ted Madara, Leidys Suarez, Jean Carlos Suarez, and Miguel Angel Suarez

L. to r.: Dana Wolf, Eric Kogan, Stanley Tucci, and Bill Bonde; Eric Kogan, Melissa Kogan, and Brian Konick.

L. to r.: Damien Escobar; Jean Carlos Suarez, Tourie Escobar, Miguel Angel Suarez, and Damien Escobar.

Majid Khaliq and Stanley Tucci

Michael Borrica and Amy Sacco

Ted Madara and Bill Bonde

L. to r.: Sasha Lazard; The Madara family.

Stanley Tucci, Joe Googel, and Andrew Muser

Robert Whaley

Photographs by Jimi Celeste/PMc

Night of Olana 2005

Allison Sarofim and Carlos Mota

Lily Atherton and Helena Kazanova

Helena Kazanova and Alex Chantecaille

The Olana Partnership’s Strabo Council and corporate partner Grey Goose Vodka held their Night of Olana 2005 two weeks ago in New York City. Event co-chairmen were Amy Fine Collins, Daisy Hill, Jazz Johnson Merton, Allison Sarofim, and Barbara Wilhelm, who created a magical evening.

Bill Powers, Cynthia Rowley, Thom Filicia, and Allison Sarofim

Amy Whitley, Charlie Ruger, and Adrienne Conzelman

The revelry was set amidst the Moorish ambience of the studio and garden of artist Izhar Patkin and will include a silent auction of “Olana inspired” contemporary art by twenty of today’s hottest young artists including Hope Atherton, Will Cotton, Inka Essenhigh, Ryan McGinness, Richard Dupont, and Cynthia Rowley — all to benefit the restoration and preservation of Olana, the Persian-style home of the famous Hudson River School artist Frederic Edwin Church. Olana is perched high on a hill overlooking the Hudson River Valley and is the historic birthplace of the first school of American art. Church, who was one of the most important landscape painters of the 19th century, designed the home and the surrounding picturesque landscape to take full advantage of the magnificent views of the Catskills and the river. You can tour the house today and stroll the grounds of what many consider the queen of the Hudson Valley estates.

For more information, visit their web site: www.olana.org.

Dominique Saint-Louis and Kirby Bradley

Amy Fine Collins

Michele Gerber Klein and Izhar Patkin

Photographs by Eric Weiss

Jacob & Co. Noche Latina launch and private shopping event to benefit Katrina Relief Fund and the Children's Aid Society

Denise Rich, Patti LaBelle, and Angela Arabo

Jacob and Angela Arabo with Patti LaBelle

On a Monday night two weeks ago, Jacob and Angela Arabo and Miss Patti LaBelle co-hosted a private cocktail reception at the Jacob & Company Townhouse in New York. The evening was a celebration of Patti LaBelle’s Tribute Concert and an introduction to the beautiful and luxurious new jewelry collection from Jacob & Company. A portion of the proceeds from the evening were donated to the Red Cross Hurricane Katrina Relief Fund.

Patti LaBelle and Jacob Arabo

Zang Toi and Patti LaBelle

The following night, Angela and Jacob Arabo, and Donna Glazer Pressman and Hayward Richard Pressman hosted a special VIP reception to celebrate “Noche Latina” benefiting the Children’s Aid Society and to introduce Jacob’s Fine Jewelry Collection at the Jacob & Company Townhouse which is located at 48 East 57 Street (between Madison and Park). 5% of the sales from this special preview were set aside to benefit the Children’s Aid Society.