KAT’S EYE AUG 26
By Katlean de Monchy–
The Hamptons is the place to be for glamorous philanthropic events. There were close to a dozen last week. Last Saturday night was so overcrowded, people planned events to start on Thursday night. And so Amy and Gary Green’s “Footprint of Life Gala” took place at their palatial Bridgehampton estate on August 15. The event celebrated their Green Vision Foundation, which is dedicated to conservation.
Amy Green (Photo Marsin Mogielski)
It drew more than 300 notable guests like Cristina Cuomo, Jean Shafiroff, and Consuelo Vanderbilt. The night peaked with a performance by Grammy-winner Ludacris. Other guests were Ramona Singer, New York State Assemblywoman Rebecca Seawright, Alison Mitchell, Kathleen Mulcahy, Missy Hargraves, Darryl Strawberry, Jackie Siegel, Michael Loeb, Erika Katz, Antonio Camarotti, Charlie Walk, Jeff Roseman, Charlie Mayhew, Josh Fox, Xiye Bastida, Dr. Christina Rahm, Clayton Thomas, and Bradford Rand. They danced to Ludacris’s hit song “Money Maker” and his propulsive hit from last year “Ferrari,” as well as others.
Ludacris (Photo Marsin Mogielski)
A&W SOFTBALL
Saturday afternoon was all about the game. Yes, the 76 Annual East Hampton Artists & Writers Charity Softball Game, which brought families to Herrick Field on August 17.
On the writers’ team, Ann Liguori and Katie Couric (Photo Barbara Lassen)
There was a quick start as the writers (who included Carl Bernstein and MSNBC’s Jonathan Lemire) piled up a score of 7 to 2 by the top of the second inning. After that there was a lull.
Katie Couric (photo Barbara Lassen)
Several scoreless innings. Katie Couric (Writers’ team) worked for a time as catcher. And the sports journalist Ann Liguori (Writer’s team) had good form at bat.
Ann Liguori, at bat (photo Barbara Lassen)
To no avail. There is a long tradition of using ringers. Pitching for Writers was John Franco, a former relief pitcher for the Mets. On the Artists’ team (in maroon) was a tall guy who was identified as “Victoria Houston,” The two sides were tied at 10 – 10 after the 11th inning, despite a pause caused when an errant ice cream truck pulled onto the field. (The schedule — and the scoreboard — had not accounted for the game going into overtime.)
For the Artists’ team, “Victoria Houston” (photo Barbara Lassen)
Andrei Lloyd’s single in the bottom of the 12th brought the winning runner home for the Artists. The final score was Artists (including the painter Eric Fischl and the landscape architect Ed Hollander) 11, Writers, 10. Notable onlookers included Blythe Danner and Jerry Larsen, Mayor of the Village of East Hampton. The event raised $50,000 for four charities: the Retreat, the Eleanor Whitmore Early Childhood Center, East End Hospice, and Phoenix House. The game, which previously had famous participants like Bill Clinton and Alec Baldwin, is a highlight of the Hamptons summer. It was the 76th annual Artists & Writers softball game. Truth.
THE BOW WOW MEOW BALL
At the Bow Wow Meow Ball (Photo Mark Kopko)
Hamptonites love their furry friends. Also in East Hampton, also on the 17th, Chuck Scarborough emceed and drew crowds to the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons (ARF). Its Bow Wow Meow Ball is an evening of dinner and dancing on ARF’s 22-acre campus. More than 350 high-profile guests, including Calvin Klein, Cornelia Guest and Bruce Weber, attended the event, which raised crucial funds for ARF’s rescue and adoption work.
ARF’s long history of saving cats and dogs was highlighted through touching stories and a tribute to the founders.
At the ARF Gala, Calvin Klein and Bruce Weber (Photo Andrew Werner)
Notably, four animals were adopted during the weekend, including two kittens that had been rescued locally. The Chantecaille family was honored for their dedication to animal welfare, while ARF’s dedication to its mission was celebrated throughout the night.
THE SUMMERFEST GALA
Jamee Gregory and Simone Levinson, co-chair of SAC’s founding board of directors (Photo Patrick McMullan/PMC)
One of the most glamorous events of the season is the Southampton Arts Center annual SummerFest Gala. It happened on, you guessed it, August 17. Jamee and Peter Gregory were given the 2024 Champions of the Arts Award for their contributions to the community and to the Arts Center.
Jean Shafiroff (Photo Udo Salters PMC)
The event, attended by 355 guests and co-chaired by prominent figures including Audrey and Martin Gruss and Hilary and Wilbur Ross, raised over $700,000 for the art center’s year-round programming. Guests enjoyed a cocktail reception with tastings from top East End restaurants, followed by a dinner in the garden adorned with fairy lights.
Lucia Hwong Gordon, Nicole Salmasi, Elizabeth Steimberg, Katlean de Monchy, Mar Morosse, Wendy Federman (Photo Patrick McMullan PMC)
The Art Center welcomed “Palmer” magazine, edited by Stefano Tonchi, as one of their sponsors. There is an excerpt of Marshall Heyman’s July story about the Gregorys and their various homes in the Hamptons in “Palmer on the Road.”
Edwina von Gal and Stefano Tonchi (Photo Udo Salters PMC)
Southampton Mayor William Manger Jr. presented a proclamation to the Gregorys, recognizing their commitment to the arts in the community. Among the guests were John Paulson and Alina de Almeida, Kara Ross, Ginger and Larry Leeds, Katlean de Monchy, Audrey and Martin Gruss, Mai Harrison, Sylvia Hemingway, Jane Holzer, Marigay McKee and Fred Powers, Roberta Amon, Ann and Keith Barish, Kim Heirston, Candace Bushnell, Fern Mallis, Chris and Richard Mack, Ugo Rondinone, Peter Thomas Roth, Nicole and Allen Salmasi, Jean Shafiroff, Elizabeth Steimberg, J. Whitney Stevens, Stefano Tonchi and Edwina von Gal, Christine and Whitney Schott, Wynn Burson-Cateron, Sharon Jacob, Marcy and Michael Warren, and Bettina Zilkha.
The evening concluded with electrifying performances by Tony Award-winner Adrienne Warren and Broadway star Jessica Vosk, leaving the crowd in awe. The funds raised will support the Art Center’s mission of community building through the arts, allowing them to host more than 150 programs a year.
DIABETES RESEARCH
The hosts, Patricia and Roger Silverstein (Photo PMC / Sean Zanni)
This event avoided the crush of the August 17 weekend by jumping in a week earlier: The Diabetes Research Institute Foundation Hamptons Garden Gala took place in Water Mill. The hosts were Patricia and Roger Silverstein, and invitations gave the theme as “disco.” The challenge for guests was how to interpret “disco,” because it covered an entire decade, the 70’s: from “Do the Hustle” through “Saturday Night Fever” to “I Will Survive.” (It lingered on at Regine’s far longer.)
And there were so many styles: Prom-date disco, wild-and-crazy-guys disco, fringe-flinging and boots disco like Goldie Hawn on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” middle-aged disco with the unbuttoned shirt, forget-it-I’m-still-a-hippie disco.
One guest, chef Eric Ripert, fell back on a New Yorker’s reliable black silk shirt with pearl buttons. James Byrnes dittoed the black silk shirt, or maybe satin, and threw in a gold necklace. Way to 70’s bling, James! Be careful on the subway ride home.
Here are some interpretations of disco:
Joel Greenwald, Dean Brier, Gerald Barad (Photo Sean Zanni PMC)
The trendy couple of the summer: Maximilian and Irina Eicke (Sean Zanni PMC)
James Byrnes, Noreen Donovan (Photo Sean Zanni PMC)
RUN, RUN, RUN, RUN
Julie Ratner at the finish line for the Ellen Hermanson Breast Cancer Foundation. (Photo Kurt Leggard)
This event is looked forward to every year. This one took place on Sunday, August 18, for those who finished their Saturday night partying early enough to start at 9 am. It was the 29th annual event, spear-headed by Dr. Julie Ratner, who lost her sister, Ellen Hermanson, to breast cancer at age 42.
The overall winner, Sergev Avramenko (age 39, bib number 392) won for the fourth time, although he said he was a minute slower than last year. His time was 16:51.66. An injury, he said, interfered with his training for four months. Two 17-year-old boys came in second and fourth. Two 64-year-olds came in last, following two folks in their 80s.
The winner, Sergev Avramenko (Photo Kurt Leggard)
Every year a number of runners are cancer survivors or the husbands, sons, mothers, and daughters of cancer survivors. This year, the winning cancer survivor in the race was Judith Donnely, who is 67. She ran the race in 25 minutes 46 seconds, 7 minutes faster than the second place finisher, 52-year-old Stephanie Zayicek, 52, also a cancer survivor. Pink, if you haven’t twigged to it yet, is the color for the race, for breast cancer, for the fight against breast cancer, and breast cancer survivors who finish the race get a rose.
Julie Ratner with Judith Donelly. (Photo Kurt Leggard)
More than 900 people turned out to race and walk. The event along with the annual Gala are the chief fund-raising events each year for the Ellen Hermanson Foundation, which supports the Ellen Hermanson Breast Center at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital, where no one is turned away for lack of insurance or ability to pay.
Bill Manger, Mayor of Southampton, with Julie Ratner, on race day. (Photo Kurt Leggard)
HAITI AIR AMBULANCE
Maria and Ken Fishel hosted a humanitarian event for Haiti Air Ambulance, featuring speeches by its founder, Pat Dolan, and the celebrity-writer Mitch Albom, author of “Tuesdays with Morrie.” Ablom also wrote a book that was published last year, an allegory called “The Little Liar,” about the choices one makes, between lying and telling the truth during the Holocaust.
Maria and Ken Fishel (Photo PMC / Mark Sagliocco)
The conversation was moderated by Newsday TV lifestyle reporter Elisa DiStefano. It should be noted that Pat Dolan is DiStephano’s boss — connection one — and a pilot who flew his own Piper to Haiti, loaded with supplies, after the earthquake in 2011. Connection two.
Elisa DiStephano; Mitch Albom; Dr. Wesner Jacotin, chief flight physician on Haiti Air Ambulance. (Photo PMC / Mark Sagliocco)
Dolan is also licensed to fly fixed-wing aircraft (helicopters). Connection three. He saw a desperate need in Haiti. And he is a board member of the Dolan Family Foundation. Connections four and five. That was the start of Haitian Air Ambulance.
It flies patients, regardless of ability to pay, to appropriate care centers, and provides medical treatment along the way. There are 11 million people in Haiti, mostly poor, many isolated. This charity will send emergency rescue to them every day of the year, no matter where they live. Often the crisis is a difficult childbirth.
Pat Dolan, who started Haiti Air Ambulance, and Louise Friedman (Photo PMC / Mark Sagliocco)
How does a popular novelist like Mitch Albom figure in? He too was moved by the plight in Haiti. So he founded Have Faith Haiti, which provides education, food, safety and opportunity to children in Port-au-Prince. The words “unrest in Haiti,” “bodies left in streets,” “gang violence continues to escalate” have appeared in headlines in the last few months. In Haiti, the need continues.
Thus the Fishel’s fund-raising appeal, and educational discussion of the issues in Haiti. In the audience were Jerry and Suzan Kremer, Alan Harvey, Lisa Walker Brown, Christopher Lockhart, Babak Rezvani, Jerry Della Femina, Judy
JEAN SHAFIROFF
Another glamorous party, earlier this month. The philanthropist Jean Shafiroff opened her home to celebrate her appearance on the cover of “Social Life” magazine.
Jean Shafiroff, at home, with her cover (Photo Udo Salters PMC)
I see Jean and her husband out at so many parties. It’s so nice to see them at home, in their own environment, with people they enjoy. They welcomed New York State Assemblywoman Rebecca Seawright, Justin and Ali Mitchell, Candace Bushnell, Ramona Singer, Ruth Miller, Lucia Hwong Gordon, Anna Rothschild, Richard Rubenstein, Todd and Liz Shapiro, and our own Flo Anthony and her beau, former world champion boxer Michael Spinks.
We joined in what felt like bidding farewell to summer.
The days are getting shorter. The night air is cooler. The Hamptons Classic is on. September is right around the corner. Conversations are turning to the Venice Film Festival, New York fashion week and when people are leaving for Palm Beach.
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