Chefs Event a Huge Success!

Por Beth Kling

De What's Happening at SHARE Blog

This year's Chefs Event, the sixth annual "A Second Helping of Life," was bigger and better than ever -- at least that's what several guests told me last night as they were enjoying the fabulous food, wine, and Hudson River views at Chelsea Piers on what was a beautiful, clear night.

We had more attendees than ever before (around 700 people) and we raised over $400,000 for SHARE! This support makes our work possible. Forty-eight of our devoted volunteers came out to help (without them, SHARE wouldn't exist).

And for the first time ever, SHARE was recognized at this event by the president of the United States. President Barack Obama sent a letter acknowledging the value of SHARE's work, and wishing us all a fantastic evening!

The food was delicious -- all prepared by NYC's top women chefs, and served with the help of celebrity sous chefs. (In the photo below, Donna Hanover is serving Guacamole de Frutas, with Ivy Stark of Dos Caminos.)

We had delicious sweet and savory dishes, all served as tasting portions, which meant you could go back for more and more (I know I did). There were long lines throughout the night for lobster rolls by Rebecca Charles (Pearl Oyster Bar) and dumplings by Anita Lo of Rickshaw Dumpling bar (specifically edamame dumplings with Sansha pepper dipping sauce -- whew!). 

Abigail Kirsch and Alison Awerbuch of Abigail Kirsch Pier Sixty (below) constructed an elaborate structure they used to display their "End of Summer Sampler," including Vodka-spiked lemonade, corn pudding, s'mores, and more! (Comedian Judy Gold, pictured below left, worked as sous chef.)

 

Amy Scherber of Amy's Bread (below) served as Executive Chef and was on hand with an assortment of breadsticks and homemade hummus. 

And the wine, alcohol, and artisanal beverages were delicious as well!

In addition to food and wine, we also had live and silent auctions. The hottest live auction item was a limited edition Vespa LX 50 motor scooter in pink (only 1,000 have been brought into the country from Italy, and Vespa donated this one to SHARE to raise awareness about breast cancer --100% of the proceeds go to our organization). The scooter went for $5,600 to a very lucky college student with the best parents in the world.

Our fabulous auctioneer, Denise Richardson, kept the crowd bidding in increasingly higher increments for all of our great items, including travel packages to London and Venice, among others, and dining opportunities around the city. Denise walked the floor, running from table to table and back again as she egged the guests on to bid higher and higher for dinner at Rao's or a vacation at Rancho La Puerta Fitness Resort & Spa.



Derek Warburton, fashionista to the stars, was sitting in our audience with Alex McCord and Simon Van Kempen of Real Housewives of New York City (Derek's the guy on the right). Derek was recently introduced to SHARE and generously donated an 8-hour session of wardrobe editing, closet organization, and personal styling to our silent auction. By the way, we haven't heard the last from Derek, who will be providing some valuable fashion tips on our web site (stay tuned!).



Our honorees, as always, were gracious and wonderful as they spoke glowingly about SHARE. For the past three years, we have honored "Successful Women Proud to Give Back," and this year's awards went to Suzanne Turtle Millard, Chairman of the Board and CEO of Turtle & Hughes, Inc.; Christine L. Rosner, Global Chief Operating Officer of DB Advisors, Deutsche Bank Group; and Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers.

This year, we added another award, named for SHARE's founder, Eugene U. Thiessen, whose work with breast cancer patients in 1975 led him to believe that women with this disease could be a good source of support and information for each other. Jeff Gural and Newmark Knight Frank were the first recipients. Their ongoing assistance to SHARE makes it possible for us to continue to serve women and men in our office in Times Square, the center of the universe!

Click here to see photos of all of our honorees, along with other photos from the event.

We got great press for the event ahead of time. Check out this link.

NY PIX Morning News. Great segment with Larry Hoff, Executive Director Alice Yaker, and Chef Patricia Williams of NIOS restaurant.

SHARE was also featured on ABC Channel 7 on Sunday morning. 

Don't forget to save the date for next year's "A Second Helping of Life" -- Monday, September 20, 2010.

And thank you to everyone who donated, contributed, participated, attended, volunteered and sent us good wishes!

Anunciado 22 septiembre 2009.

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