Wednesday night, I attended a sneak preview party thrown by the fabulous ladies of Women In Need ("WIN"), a non-profit organization that over the past 25 years has provided housing and assistance of homeless women and children here in the Manhattan area. What we never see was brought to a dazzling but startling light: every evening here in New York City, approximately 10,000 families sleep in NYC shelters, including more than 16,000 children (families constitute 80 percent of all New Yorkers in the shelter system.) Each evening, WIN helps a great many of those women and children via six transitional shelters in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn as well as permanent supportive housing throughout the city. This charity is making things happen and the dedicated women who comprise its tireless committee and staff are working hard to make sure funding for their worthwhile cause continues.
This year's fundraiser is truly a fun labor of love. Via the connections of board members, tireless outreach efforts and word of mouth about this amazing organization, well-known fashion industry insiders, sports starts, celebrities, Broadway performers and other VIPs have decorated papier mache houses for silent auction. Their efforts, entitled “Home is Where the Heart Is,” are to be proudly displayed in the windows of Saks Fifth Avenue's Manhattan flagship store through this coming Monday, when the auction will take begin, starting November 9th via a private party as well as via charitybuzz.com, with the efforts ending Monday, November 30th.
Feel like you want to make someone else's dream of getting on their feet a reality while adding to your art collection? I'm showing just a few of the spectacular designs but shown here are houses designed by Sean "Diddy" Combs (it's the one with the diamante-encrusted helicopter on the roof) and Vera Wang (which looks like one of her spectacular wedding designs) at the top of the post; Bobbi Brown, Isaac Mizrahi, and Oscar de La Renta. Other houses not shown that can be seen (and purchased, this is a charitable auction, people!) are Sean Avery; Lidia Bastianich; Victoria & David Beckham; Halle Berry; Mary J. Blige; Chris “Ludacris” Bridges; the cast of the Broadway Musical "Hair"; Cheyenne Jackson; Donna Karan; Monica Rich Kosann; Dylan Lauren; Richard Leach for Park Avenue Autumn; Deborah Lloyd for Kate Spade; Jennifer Lopez; Moby; Debra Messing; Josie Natori; George Rodrigue; Cameron Silver for Decades; Justin Timberlake & Trace Ayala for William Rast; Today Show Anchors; and Diane Von Furstenberg.
Log in when bidding starts because for those of us who can purchase the houses, it's a dream to have such amazing art but for the people who benefit from this marvelous organization, the money raised makes all sorts of bigger, life-altering dreams come true. Even if you can't purchase one of the houses, WIN takes all donations, no matter how small. Get into the business of making dreams come true by giving what you can today and let's make the nightmare of homelessness go away.
1 comment:
WOW! it's seriously amazing. those designers must have worked for quite a while to create some of these amazing pieces! thanks so much for sharing! x.
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