Donna Karan Offers Wings for Haiti

At an outstanding benefit dinner at Donna Karan’s waterfront home in East Hampton, 30 guests enjoyed cocktails on a perfect Friday evening, August 15. For dinner itself, there were two tables, one with Donna, the other with her co-host for the evening, Alec Baldwin. And there was another host: Jonathan Glynn, a Sag Harbor pilot and the founder of Wings Over Haiti.

The early reception (photo credit: Rob Rich/SocietyAllure.com

Wings was the beneficiary of the night. In fact, August had seen a number of Wings events in the Hamptons. Glynn first got involved 15 years ago, after the first earthquake to ravage Haiti in recent memory. He witnessed the absolute poverty and need when he was one of the first private planes to bring medical supplies into the country. When he returned to the United States, he vowed he would do something for the children of Haiti. He decided to build a school.

Tracy Mitchell and Jonathan Glynn

Thus Wings Over Haiti. That one school, in a city in north-central Haiti called Ranquitte, now has 400 students. Each day the children in that school are fed as well as educated. Their medical needs are met. Besides book learning they get music lessons. And each year a new grade is added.

The Alec Baldwin Table

Glynn’s goal is to build a second school in Haiti. The benefit dinner drew Tracy Mitchell, the executive director of the Bay Street Theater; Harriette Cole, the author and former editor of Ebony magazine; Cindy Meehl, a documentry film maker; Jennifer Wastrom, another documentary film maker; Kathryn Schenker, until her retirement, Sting’s music manager; the philanthropist Jade Netanya Ullmann, and the German author Normon Ohler.

Nancy Tsuer, Alec Baldwin, Donna Karan, Jonathan Glynn, Polly Barnett, Cindy Meehl,, Harriette Cole and Caroline Sada (Photo credit: Rob Rich/SocietyAllure.com)

Guests lingered as the evening waned and torches were lighted. Some guests were Haitian, friends Glynn has made during his many trips. Caroline Sada, for instance, is a Haitian-American artist who was born in New York and has returned to Haiti to do business. Magalie Dresse is head of Caribbean Crafts. Magalie Theodore is the co-chair of Friends of Haiti.

Magalie Theodore, Beth O’Donnell, Kathryn Schenker, Harriette Cole, Sue-Ann Greenfield, Donna Karan (Photo credit: Rob Rich/SocietyAllure.com)